Escaping Destiny
by DaRk-HoPeLeSs-RoMaNtIc
Summary: Just what will it take for Harry to escape false friends and a insane Headmaster? What will he have to endure to live the life that was meant for him? Read and find out! duh!
1. Summer at the Weasley's

"Harry! I'm so glad you've come!" Hermione cried as she flung her arms around Harry's neck.

"Hermione let go of him! If you almost kill him now, he'll never want to stay or come over again," Ron said, and Hermione promptly dropped her arms.

"Hey Ron, hey Hermione," Harry said after he caught his breath that had escaped him during the hug.

"Hey Harry, how was your summer?" Ron asked coolly as he led Harry and Hermione back into the burrow.

Harry's expression darkened but he kept his light, "Aw, the same as always I guess. The muggles are a real pain still." Neither of his friends noticed the slight change in his mood. "How were your summers?"

"Well…" Hermione started, blushing. "I actually stayed here most of the summer. But nothing interesting ever happens without you Harry."

"She's right you know," Fred said as the three younger teens walked into the kitchen.

"It's almost like-," George started.

"-They have no brains at all-,"

"When your not here."

"That's not true!" Ron protested. "We could do lot's of stuff without Harry! But we don't because it's not any fun."

"That's exactly-,"

"-Our point!" The twins replied as they walked out of the small front hall and up the stairs to find something more interesting to do then pick on the little kids.

"Aw don't worry about them," Ron said as he glared at his brothers' backs. "They're just happy that they have someone else to pick on and bother. A summer of bothering the same people gets old fast."

"Poor them," Harry said sourly, not even hiding his dark feelings as they rubbed this all in his face.

"Oh we're sorry Harry," Hermione said. "Is there anything you want to do right now before Mrs. Weasley realizes that you're here?"

"Hmm… Not really. I'm actually kind of tired," he said as he glanced at the clock that actually told time.

"Really?" Ron asked incredulously. "But it's only eight o'clock!"

"Ron, leave him alone!" Hermione said sternly. "If Harry wants to go to bed now then you had better let him!"

"Alright, Hermione. I was just making sure that he wanted to."

"Thanks 'Mione," Harry added gratefully.

"You still know where my room is don't you mate?"

"Yeah, I should be alright," Harry yawned. "Are you sure that you guys don't want me to stay up with you?"

"No that's alright Harry, go get some rest. Mrs. Weasley is gonna be really excited that your finally here, so your gonna need as much sleep as possible," Hermione said kindly.

"Yeah I guess your right," Harry said as he turned towards the stairs. "G'night!"

"'Night!"

"'Night!"

'Hmm…' Harry wondered, 'was Ron's room on the forth floor or the fifth floor? I'll try the forth first since it's closest.'

Harry Climbed up three flights of stairs and the he arrived at the forth floor landing. He walked down to the very end of the hall and turned to open the door on the left hand side. A noise on the other end of the door made him stop. It sounded like people… but he couldn't quite comprehend who they sounded like or what they were doing. They hadn't noticed his arrival at the door so they must not be paying much attention. He reached out and grabbed the doorknob. Slowly he turned the knob and gently pushed the door open.

"Bloody he-," he started, but was hit by two stunning spells at once.

"Oh it's just Harry," Fred whispered.

"Should we mess with his memory?" George whispered back.

"I don't think he would snitch on us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But how do you know?"

"Come on George! We've known Harry forever!"

"Yeah you're right," George said as he raised his wand to remove the stunning spells. "Harry are you alright?"

"Yeah I think so," Harry murmured. "But I don't think that I'm awake."

"Of course you are," Fred replied coolly.

"So you mean to tell me-," Harry started.

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"And you guy's are-,"

"Yes."

"But you guy's are-,"

"Yes we know."

"Wow," Harry said, shocked. "How long?" And why _that_?"

The twins looked at each other a moment before answering. "Well Harry-," George started.

"We've been doing this-,"

"For about six years-,"

"Oh," was all Harry could manage at this point.

"And of course-,"

"We do this-,"

"Because it is the most fun-,"

"That we've ever had!"

"So you see-,"

"It was only logical-,"

"That we didn't stop," Fred finished, looking at Harry intently for his response.

"So you mean to tell me-,"

"Yes."

"And you guy's are-,"

"Yes Harry! We've already been through this!" George stated, getting annoyed.

"Your right… I'm just caught up on the one fact," Harry said as he shook his head as if to shake the confusion away. "But there's one thing I don't understand…"

"Yes?" Fred pressed.

"Don't you ever worry that someone will walk in and see you?"

"Well actually, Fred replied. "Percy already has before."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," George replied as he smoothed out a wrinkle from his dress. "But we had to erase that memory form his mind. Unfortunately, something went wrong and now he forgets what happens to him on the third Tuesday of every month."

"You're not going to do that to me are you?" Harry asked, his casual tone laced with underlying fear.

"Of course not Harry," Fred replied as he adjusted his wig in a conjured mirror. "We know you won't rat us out."

"We trust you more then we trust some of our own family."

"Thanks guys," Harry said, appreciating their trust and the fact that they weren't going to mess with his mind, that would be scary thing. "Can I ask you one thing thought?"

"Yes."

"Is it fun?"

"Is what fun Harry?" George asked, confused by the vague question.

"Uhm… Dressing up as a woman," Harry replied blushing.

"Why of course it is!" Fred replied enthusiastically. "Would you like to try it too?"

"No thanks," Harry said, blushing a deeper scarlet. "But could you tell me where Ron's room is? So I don't run into anymore… surprises."

"Of course," George replied, a little disappointed that Harry didn't want to play, but not so much that he wouldn't help. "Fifth floor, last door down the hall on the left."

"Oh so it was the fifth floor…" Harry murmured to himself. "Thanks guys."

"Come back anytime Harry," Fred called. "You're always welcome to play dress up with us."

"I'll remember that," Harry laughed, a faint blush staining his cheeks. "Good night!"

"'Night, Harry!" the twins called out after him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Where were you?" Hermione asked in a stern voice as soon as Harry walked into his and Ron's room that they were sharing. "I've been worried sick!"

"Hermione, where do you think I could have gone? You guys would have known if I had left, I would have had to walk right past you," Harry replied as he slipped off his shoes and sat on his bed.

"Oh… You still didn't answer my question though," she muttered, a blush reddening her soft features.

"I was talking to Fred and George."

"About what?" she asked suspiciously.

He looked at her incredulously, and said, "We were talking about upcoming pranks this term. Why the third degree?" He was surprised at how easy it was to lie to one of his best friends.

"Oh… it's nothing. Just curious you know?" she lied. Harry noted that it wasn't her that made it easier to lie, since she obviously couldn't. But then what could it be?

"Sure," Harry said letting the subject drop. Hermione sighed in relief. "So, where's Ron?"

"Oh Mr. Weasley asked him to help retrieve something from the attic. That ghoul up there can be pretty vicious."

"Oh, alright." Well," he yawned. "If you don't mind I think I'll turn in."

"Oh sure, good night."

"G'night." Harry whispered as Hermione left, shutting of the light and closing the door on her way out.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

About an hour later, Ron walked into the small bedroom that they shared. "Harry are you asleep," Ron whispered as he lay down on his bed.

Harry didn't reply. He had things to figure out and it would be easier to do if Ron thought he was sleeping.

"Oh," he heard Ron whisper, and not long after he could hear the soft snores of his sleeping friend.

This new emotion that Harry felt towards his friends was odd and a bit unsettling. He'd never imagined that he would feel this way towards the two people he cared the most about. It was strange. It wasn't as strong as hate, but it was a distance that he knew wasn't there before. Like their friendship was starting to fade. Almost like they didn't know each other as well as they thought they did before.

Harry knew that he would have to act fast if he wanted to save his slowly disintegrating friendship with Ron and Hermione, but was it even worth it? Would they even care? Was it them not wanting to be his friends anymore?

There was only one way to find out. He'd have to test their friendship, but how?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Harry are you awake?"

"No," Harry murmured from underneath the covers.

"Well then get up! Mom is throwing a fit because you're not up yet! She's blaming us for keeping you up all night with questions about your summer," Ron said from the doorway, obviously irritated by his overreacting mother.

"'Time's it?" Harry asked groggily, still covered up and not willing to move anytime soon.

"Almost ten o'clock. Are you still tired?" Hermione asked as she appeared out of nowhere and sat on the edge of the bed.

"No I'm gonna get up," Harry said as he sat up. "Could you get out?"

"Oh sure," Hermione said and she fled the room.

"Be downstairs in ten minutes or else we're gonna come up and here and drag you down there," Ron threatened, as he shut the door behind him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

About eight minutes later, Harry found himself in the middle of the hectic Weasley kitchen. On either side of him was Fred and George – who had faint traces of eyeliner their eyes, but it seemed that Harry was the only that had noticed – and across from him was Ginny, Hermione and Ron. Mr. Weasley was at work already and Mrs. Weasley was bustling around the house tidying up things.

"So," Hermione started, trying to make conversation. "We should be getting our letters soon, anyone looking forward to going back to school?"

"Not really," Ron replied. "As long as I get all my classes with either you or Harry, I don't think it will be too bad."

"Ron," Hermione scolded. "You have to be open minded. There might some classes that Harry and I get into, but you won't."

"That's not very likely," Ron said stubbornly. "I've always been in the same classes as Harry!"

"Well that was before you had to get certain grades to get into classes!"

"Oh," Ron said, blushing at the fact that he had forgotten such an important fact.

"We're looking forward to school," Fred said enthusiastically.

"Just think of all the cool pranks-,"

"We could play on everyone."

"Especially the teachers-,"

"Since it's our last year there."

"Well obviously," Hermione stared. "You won't be getting away with your plans."

"Why wouldn't we?" George scoffed.

"Well because-," she started, but was cut off by a small flock of Tawny owls that had, at that moment, flown into the kitchen. Each owl dropped a letter into someone's lap, and then flew off.

"Our letters!" Ginny cried as she picked hers up and tore into it. Everyone else followed her lead and did the same.

"Oh," Hermione squealed. "All O's except for Defense and Transfiguration! What did you get Ron?"

"All E's except for potions I got a P. Well At least I don't have to take potions again. What about you Harry?" Ron asked quickly after seeing the disapproving look on Hermione's face, so she couldn't say anything.

"All O's except for Divination, but that doesn't really matter. It was all a bunch of garbage anyway…" Harry started at the look on his friends' faces, Ron looked shocked and Hermione looked like she was confused on whether she should be shocked or upset by what ever it was that Harry had said. "What's wrong?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Nothing," Hermione replied, deciding that she was going to be upset since the shock had worn off. "It's just… You have better grades then I do."

"So," Harry said, not understanding why she was so upset, or upset at all for that matter. "We already knew I was better at Defense-," Hermione cringed, Harry pretended not to notice. "- nut maybe I'm better at Transfiguration, too," she cringed again.

"That can't be right," she murmured to herself, although Harry still heard her. "Maybe they made a mistake."

This pissed Harry off. How dare she think so much of herself that she couldn't accept the fact that she got lower grades then her _best _friend? "Hermione, why do you think they made a mistake? Can't you accept the fact that you might not be as smart as you think you are? Or are you so full of yourself that that you think that no one can be better then you at anything," Harry sneered, not caring about the way Hermione cringed at every one of his venom laced words. Hermione was almost in tears.

"Don't talk to her that way!" Ron shouted, angry at the way Harry had talked to her like she wasn't worth anything at all.

"And why the hell not?" Harry snapped. "Is the poor little genius afraid of getting her feelings hurt?" Harry yelled. Magic started to swirl around Harry, a breeze began to blow his hair around, getting stronger by the second.

"Come on Harry," Fred said as he and George grabbed Harry's arms. "I think we could use some fresh air."

Harry allowed himself to be pulled away. He fought the smirk off his face as he watched Hermione burst into tears. 'Serves her right,' Harry thought. 'Maybe she won't think of herself so highly anymore. I don't understand what made her so upset though. It's not like I'm an idiot.' Then he realized he wasn't moving anymore so that must have meant Fred and George must have led him to where ever they were taking him and let him go.

"That was bloody brilliant! Way to go Harry!" George said, clapping Harry on the back.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, shocked at their odd reactions. He was expecting something a little more… angry and upset.

"It's about bloody time that someone put her in her place. She was getting rather annoying, thinking that she was better then everyone else."

"Oh," was all Harry could manage, he was still shocked.

"Now don't get us wrong," Fred said. "We still love Hermione like a sister-,"

"But sometimes she can be a bitch."

"Are you alright?" Fred asked. "You looked like you were about ready to blow up the kitchen."

"Yeah I'm alright," Harry said calmly. "So what grades did you get?"

"Oh it doesn't matter-,"

"We're not going to need the grades."

"Instead we're gonna run-,"

"That joke shop you helped us start."

"Oh," Harry said. "That sounds like more fun then school. But who's gonna terrorize the school with you two gone planning for your joke shop?"

"Oh we're sure someone will take our place," George said winking at Harry.

"But until someone does," Fred sighed dramatically. "We'll have to do our best."

Harry laughed. "So what are we gonna do until Hermione has cooled off?"

Fred and George looked thoughtful for a moment, and then they faced each other and grinned evilly. "Oh we know what to do."

Harry was confused at first but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. "No, wait; maybe we should do something else!"

"Not a chance Harry." They said as they grabbed his arms and dragged him away.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"This is ridiculous!" Ron said to Hermione. "Why would Harry do that!? It was so unlike him."

"Not really," Hermione said. "I was being rude and he reacted to that."

"But he still shouldn't have exploded like that! He's never done that to us before! Maybe we should tell Dumbledore that he's been acting weird lately."

"No Ron. He wasn't acting weird, he was just being himself. He had every right to act that way because I shouldn't have handled things the way I did. And he's never done that before because this is an unusual situation that we're not usually in. So just drop it all right?" she said her tone clearly stating that the conversation was over.

"Fine," Ron said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "Should we go find him?"

"No I think we should give him a chance to calm down before we look for him."

"Alright," Ron sighed as he pulled out a chess set. "Wanna play to pass the time? Or would you like to do something else?"

"No, I'll play chess," Hermione replied.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Can I leave now?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

"Are you done yet?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

Does it matter if I'm uncomfortable?"

"No!"

"Argh!" Harry sighed. He had been standing on a conjured stool for the last 35 minutes. "My feet hurt!"

"Pain is beauty-," Fred started.

"And beauty is pain." George finished.

"Well I don't want to be beautiful anymore! I feel ridiculous! And how long does it take for _two _people to do make-up?"

"Don't rush perfection Harry," George warned.

"And guinea pigs don't talk," Fred added.

"Oh that's right," Harry stated sarcastically. "By the way, why am I wearing silver?"

"Cause it looks good on you," Fred said.

"Now shut up, we're almost done!" George added.

Harry stood there for another five minutes muttering disapproving things and getting withering looks in response to his complaints.

"Alright Harry-,"

"We're finished."

"Good. Can I see what you guys did to me for the last forever hours?"

"Sure put it wasn't nearly that long," Fred replied as he conjured a full-length body mirror for Harry to see himself with.

Harry gasped. He didn't recognize himself. The only things that he recognized were his eyes, the same shocking green that they had always been. His raven colored hair fell just below his shoulders in silky waves. He had a thin line of charcoal eye-liner around each eye, with an off-white-into-green on his eyelids, the two colors together made his eyes pop. His long curly black eyelashes curved perfectly, framing each eye as if drawn there by the most careful to detail artist. He had the lightest shade of pink on his cheeks that he wasn't sure was make-up or not, and his full pink lips were coated in a shimmery layer of clear lip-gloss. A beautiful flower hair clip held his long bangs out of his face. The dress he wore was a silver silk that really brought out the color of his hair and eyes. It reached a little past his knees revealing strappy silver heels. It was cut low withy shimmery, white silk coming down just off of the shoulders as sleeves. It flared at the bottom so that when he spun in a circle it formed a wide O. On his chest, there was a wide triangle with the point at his waist, of the same white silk that his sleeves were made of. It was laced with a silver ribbon laced almost like a corset, only much more delicate in a way. Around his waist was a silver sash it was held in place by a metallic clasp shaped like a heart.

"Wow," Harry breathed.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Fred asked at Harry's amazed expression.

"Absolutely," Harry said. "It's so lovely, how did you come up with the design so fast?"

"We've actually had these designs for you for awhile now Harry, we were just waiting for the right moment to show you," George said calmly.

"Wow," was all Harry could say. After a few moments of gazing at himself in the mirror he spoke again. "Fred, George?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Do you think… well maybe we could… um… take a picture of me?"

"Why of course Harry," George said enthusiastically.

Fred got out a camera, while George showed Harry how to pose. They took three pictures, one with Harry just standing there smiling, one with him looking up at the camera from an overview shot, and one of him sitting on the ground, knees bent and legs off to the side, and hands folded gracefully in his lap while looking to one side instead of looking directly at the camera.

Once they were done taking pictures, they copied them so that they could each have a set. Harry put a non-damageable charm on them and then put them into the pocket of his jeans that were lying on the floor.

"So," Fred said, clapping his hands together. "It's time for you to change back into your own, normal clothes."

"Yep," Harry said, already un-strapping the heels so he could get them off. "So how do we do that?"

"Stand up and hold still, alright?" George asked.

"Alright," Harry replied as he stood up without his heels.

The twins murmured a few quick spells and Harry felt he was wearing his own jeans and t-shirt again. He reached down and felt his pocket, the pictures were still there.

"Thanks," Harry said looking at the twins. They were suppressing laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Fred said as he handed Harry a small, hand-held mirror.

Harry looked at his reflection for a moment, dropped the mirror, which shattered, and screamed. I'm not talking about a manly scream either; I'm talking about an all out screech. Though the sound didn't escape the room because of the silencing charms the twins had put up at the beginning.

"What did you two do!?" Harry shrieked.

"Nothing Harry, just calm down-."

"Calm down, calm down!? What do you mean calm down? Look at this! How am I supposed to explain this!? They're all going to notice and then what am I going to do!?" Harry was in hysterics, total melt down mode, hyperventilating and everything.

"Stop!" George yelled and hit Harry with a stunning spell. Harry froze and Fred caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Now listen, Harry," Fred said calmly. "We didn't do anything permanent to your eyebrows. All we did was pluck them so they wouldn't be so bushy. Now we understand that they may look a little too girly for you, and that's why we were trying to tell you how to grow them back."

"Now," George said. "Are you going to listen?"

Harry moved his eyes up and down in an odd way to show that he understood.

"Good," he said as he removed the spell. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said as he sat down on the bed.

"Good, now all you have to do is concentrate your magic on growing back your eyebrows."

Harry thought about this for a second and then began to concentrate. After a couple of minutes, Fred tapped him on the shoulder, signaling that him that he should stop before his face was nothing but eyebrow.

Harry picked up a piece of the broken mirror again and sighed in relief as he looked at his reflection. His eyebrows were back to normal. "Thanks guys," Harry said, relieved.

"Any time Harry. You're always welcome to be our guinea pig," Fred said and they all burst out laughing.

George cast a quick tempus charm. "Oh great, it's almost dinner. They're bound to think we've killed you with an experiment by now."

"Why would they be thinking that?" Harry asked, unnerved by the statement.

"It's a long story."

"Oh… Okay then. I guess I have to go face Hermione now," Harry sighed as he headed to the door with them right behind him, and then they headed to the kitchen.


	2. Late Birthday Presents

Okay, I would like to start by saying I am terribly sorry for putting this story on hold for so long, it is inexcusable

**Okay, I would like to start by saying I am terribly sorry for putting this story on hold for so long, it is inexcusable. I just hope that I have not lost all of my readers. Well, more at the end. Here's the chapter we've been waiting for, for so long.**

**--**

"Oh Harry, there you are! You've been gone for ages; I was beginning to believe you had run off." Hermione cried as she flung her arms around the brunette boy's neck. "I'm so sorry! I acted like such a fool. It's just you never seem to put any effort at all in school and it shocked me that you did so well."

Harry wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to this. "Is this supposed to be an apology?"

"Yes. I am truly sorry that I was rude to you earlier, I know I must have sounded like a self centered git-"

"Just a little," Harry muttered sarcastically.

Hermione continued on like she didn't here him. "But I truly am sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Harry considered this for a moment, vaguely aware of the wetness he was starting to feel on his shoulder. "Yes, I forgive you," he said, and to his relief, he was let out of Hermione's death grip.

"Thank you Harry," the tearful woman said as she wiped her eyes, gratitude dripping from her every word.

'Why does she seem so grateful…' he thought to himself before saying, "That's alright-"

"Harry!" a voice called from the other room. "Come in here so I can get a good look at you!"

"Coming, Mrs. Weasley," Harry called back, turning away from the bushy-haired girl and heading towards the source of the noise.

"Oh Harry, you're so handsome," Mrs. Weasley gushed, inching his cheeks and leaving them with a faint tinge of red from her grip. "But you're still so thin! Have you been eating right?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Harry sighed, thinking of a way to quickly change the subject without her noticing. "How has your summer been?"

"Well dear it is a lot better now that you and Hermione are here. Now Ron and little Ginny won't be so bored anymore," she said happily. "Now maybe you and Ginny can get better acquainted."

"Mom stop, you're embarrassing him," Rom said as he walked into the room. "Look, his cheeks are turning red."

"No I think that's because she pinched me," Harry said rubbing his cheeks.

"Oh I'm sorry Harry," Mrs. Weasley said as she looked at his slightly red cheeks. "It's just it's been forever since I've seen you last."

"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley."

"Always so polite… You could do with some more manners Ronald, it isn't becoming for one to disrespect their elders."

"Mom!" Ron groaned.

"Well, I have to go fix dinner. You boys go play, and stay out of trouble," she said as she made her way back to her kitchen.

"She acts like you've come back from the dead or something!"

"Who knows," Harry said smiling. "Maybe I will someday. And with the luck we seem to have, you two will most likely be joining me."

"Just as long as we also come back with you," Hermione stated as she joined in their conversation. "It wouldn't do for you to just leave us in the land of the dead alone."

"I don't know," Harry said slyly. "I guess it would depend on how nice this 'land of the dead' is."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if it's really nice there, there would really be no way that I would take you guys back to the land of the living."

"And why not," Ron stated indignantly.

"Because I wouldn't even be going back," Harry stated laughing at the looks he got from his two friends. "Oh don't look at me like that. If it was really nice there would you honestly want to come back?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Ron said thinking about how nice it could be in the land of the dead.

"But Harry," Hermione said, cutting in to Ron's thoughts. "What about the rest of the world? Don't you think they'd miss you?"

"I would think that they would just be happy that the Dark Lord was dead, assuming I died after that," Harry said darkly.

"Oh Harry, I'm sure people would miss you if you were gone," Hermione stated seriously.

"Yeah right, only if I haven't solved all there problems by then."

"Let's not talk about this," Ron said quickly, seeing where this conversation was heading. "Why don't we go outside and play Quidditch or something, Harry."

"Sure, why not," Harry replied, his mood lightening a bit at the mention of his favorite game. "Let's go and see if Fred and George want to play doubles."

"That sounds good to me. Do you want to keep score, Hermione?"

"Sure, why not," the brunette stated, relived at the change of subject. She wasn't sure why much longer she could have argued with Harry. After all, every thing he said had had some truth to it.

**--Later That Night--**

"Look Harry, you've gotten a parcel!" Ron stated noting the brown lump resting atop his friends' bed.

Harry looked over and also spotted the Small parcel sitting atop his bed. He noticed there was also a letter with it and decided to open that first. Eyeing the letter, he recognized the sloppy handwriting that he had grown so accustomed to. "It's from Sirius," he called out to Ron as he ripped open the letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know it's a little bit late, but just couldn't decide what to get your for your birthday. So here it is, Happy Birthday Harry! As I'm sure you already know your present is in the parcel. I'm not so sure if you would be willing to share this little secret, so I would suggest that you open your present alone._

_-Sirius_

"What does it say, Harry?" Hermione asked, having walked into the room the two men shared while Harry was reading his letter.

"Oh it was from Sirius," Harry replied nonchalant.

"What did it say?" Hermione pressed.

"It just said what was in the package," Harry said evasively, starting to get annoyed with her consistent pestering.

Hermione sighed, "Why don't you want to tell us what's in the package Harry?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?" he asked suspiciously.

"Harry I your friend, I'm only being curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"What?" Ron asked obviously confused.

"It's an old muggle saying," Hermione replied swiftly. "Why are you being so secretive Harry? We only want to help you."

"But it's not a big deal, Hermione! He only sent me some owl treats for Hedwig!"

"So why did you make such a big deal out of it?" Hermione stated hotly.

"Me? I don't think that it's necessary for you guys to know every little detail about my life. I think I should be allowed to open a letter without you jumping down my throat!" he stated loudly as he shoved the letter and the parcel in his pocket and walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, still as confused as before.

"I'm not so sure, but I think we should tell professor Dumbledore."

"Are you sure, Hermione? It almost feels wrong to betray our friend like that," Ron said nervously.

"Ron, if you ever plan on getting anywhere in this world you need to know who to look up to. Besides it's not like its betrayal."

"Sure fells like it to me," Ron muttered to himself.

"Goodnight Ronald," Hermione said briskly. "We will talk about this tomorrow."

"Sure Hermione," Ron said to her back as she walked out of the room.

**--**

Knock. Knock.

"Come in, Harry," a voice called from the other side of the door.

"How did you know it was me?" the green-eyed boy asked as he walked in and shut the door behind him.

"You're the only one that ever knocks on our door," George replied not taking his eyes off of the book he was looking at.

"So people just walk into your rooms unannounced?"

"No one really comes up here," Fred said, looking over his twins shoulder at the book in front of him.

"Okay… What are you guys reading?" Harry asked curiously, wondering why they both needed to read the same book.

"Nothing," George said as he snapped the book shut.

"So why are you up here, Harry? Shouldn't you be down with our little Ronikins?" Fred asked, voice dripping with sugary sarcasm.

"Don't remind me of them," Harry huffed as he sat down in a chair that was conveniently located in front of him.

"Did our favorite little people have falling out?" George stated sweetly.

"Who are you calling 'little'?" Harry asked hotly. "I'm almost as tall as you are."

"Ooh, someone seems to be PMSing right about now."

"Sorry guys, I don't mean to take this out on you," Harry sighed, slumping down further into his chair. "But I just get so tired of the trying to run my life all the time. It almost makes me sick just thinking about it."

"That's alright," Fred said, eyeing Harry cautiously.

"So, what set off this fight of yours?" George asked, fearing Harry's unusual aggressive temper.

"Well it started when I got this letter…" Harry started, retelling the whole story to Fred and George. They sat there quietly listening, purposely missing opportune moments to poke fun at there younger brother and his friends.

"Seems to me they're just being to damn over protective," Fred sympathized.

"Was it even a big deal? What he sent you I mean," George added.

"No, he only sent me some owl treats for Hedwig," Harry lied. He had debated on whether or not he should tell them the truth, but decided that he would tell them at a later date if the time presented itself.

"She does eat a lot of owl treats, Harry," Fred stated jokingly.

"If you keep feeding her so many she won't be able to deliver letters pretty soon," George added on.

"I know!" Harry laughed. "Sirius practically gives her a while box every time she goes there, it's a wonder how she always makes it back."

"I can practically see it now," George stated, making animated motions with his hands as he spoke. "She'll be too big to fit any window."

"Yeah," Harry said, still laughing. 'These are the kinds of conversations that I used to have with Ron and Hermione, the kinds that I should still have.' He thought darkly, his mood changing drastically.

"Well maybe we should be going to bed soon-" George started.

"-Wouldn't want Mom angry with us tomorrow for not getting up on time."

"Can we just hang out for a little bit longer?" Harry asked not wanting to risk being subjected to the imminent interrogation.

"Sure, Harry," Fred started.

"What do you want to do?"

Harry didn't miss the sinister look in the twins' eyes. He was silently regretting this decision. "I don't know… Did you two have something in mind?" Another question he immediately regretted asking.

"Well-"

"We could always play dress-up."

"You guys play with dolls?"

"Now Harry-" Fred mocked.

"You should not be so conceited."

Harry was getting better on the uptake when around Fred and George; he could even tell them apart most of the time. But this one was last this time. "I'm not being conceited," uncertainty rang clear in his voice.

"Well to be considering yourself a doll-"

"Sounds pretty conceited to us."

'Wait a second…' Harry thought to himself. Then it dawned on him. "Wait, you can't mean…"

"Don't sound so afraid, Harry," George said cruelly.

"It was your idea after all." Matching sinister smiles were painted on their faces.

--

Harry was exhausted when he finally made it back to the room he shared with Ron. He had spent the better part of three hours being a mannequin for the twins. He tried on various items of clothing ranging from pants suits to various forms of dresses and skirts. 'Where in the world do they keep do they keep all of that crap. There's no way that it all fits in their room,' Harry thought to himself as he put on sleeping clothes and went to sit down on his bed. Right before he sat down on his bed he remembered the package that he had put in his pocket. He took out the package and unwrapped it; inside there was another letter from Sirius.

He heard a noise from the other bed and quickly put the letter and the object underneath his pillow.

"Harry? Is that you?" a voice whispered from the other side of the room.

"No it's the boogeyman," Harry replied sarcastically.

"What?"

"Muggle term, what did you want?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Ron," Harry sighed.

"Okay, so hypothetically speaking, let's say there is this guy, and he has two best friends, but he really likes one of them, but he didn't wan the other friend to be offended by asking the other friend out, what should he do?"

It took Harry a few moments to sort this out in his head. But once it was all put together coherently in his head, he believed he knew where this was going. "Well my advice for this guy," Harry started. "-Would be to wait for the right moment. If the friendship is stressed, then it isn't the right time to admit your feelings. In fact it might just make things worse. But when things smooth out and are easy going, it will be the perfect time to let them know."

Ron pondered this for a few moments before answering. "Thanks mate."

"No problem." Harry didn't have to wait long before he could hear the snores of his friend from across the room. Harry waited a few moments, just to make sure his friend was truly sleeping. After he was certain his friend wouldn't wake up he slid his hand under his pillow and retrieved the items hidden there. He pulled out his wand and cast a silent _Lumos. _Harry examined the object in his hand in the dim light emitting from the wand. It was a small hour glass. He then picked up the letter and began to read.

_Dear Harry,_

_I take it you're alone. I'm sure you've used on of these before, if your third year was anything to go by, but just in case you don't recognize this, it's a Time Turner. They can incredibly useful, but even more dangerous, so use it with caution. I figured you could put it to good use. Don't do anything I wouldn't do._

_ -Sirius_

'A Time Turner,' Harry thought as he stored the small hour glass in the bottom of his trunk, rolled up in the rattiest old pair of socks he had. 'Good thing he warned me to open this alone, it wouldn't do for anyone else to know about this except us.' As Harry walked back over to his bed he noticed a faint glowing coming from his wand.

**Well that's all for this installment. I plan on updating every other week, alternating with my other story, from now on. Hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers, especially since I didn't have that many in the first place. But, yeah, reviews make me happy! And flames I'm sure I deserve since it's been over a year since I last updated… **


	3. Plans Set Into Action

Well

**Okay, I know that I was supposed to update last weekend, but I broke my arm. So I've only been able to type with one hand. So that's my reason and I think it's a damn good one. Some more from me at the bottom.**

**A/N: I don't think that I mentioned this before but this story takes place in their 6****th**** year and totally disregards OoTP, HBP, and TDH. Now that that is all cleared up,**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world that is Harry Potter, I only vacation here. I am in no way making any kind of prophet of off this piece; we commoners leave that to the great J.K. Rowling.**

**Now, on with the story!**

**--**

"Get up boys! We're leaving in 45 minutes!"

That was the first thing Harry had heard all morning and he wasn't too thrilled about it. He loved Mrs. Weasley like family, but he would be the first to admit that she had a rather annoying voice. "Argh," he moaned as he rolled over and buried his head deeper into the pillows. "Way too early to get up."

"Come on Harry! We're going to Diagon Alley for our school stuff today! You wouldn't want to miss that would you?" Ron said excitedly as he jumped up and put on some clothes.

'You weren't the one up half of the night playing dress-up with Fred and George,' Harry thought bitterly, head still buried in the pillows. Out loud he said, "That sounds pretty good to me."

"Oh come off it," Ron said as he pulled off Harry's covers. "You need to get your ass out of bed before Mum comes in to get you herself."

With that said Harry promptly got out of bed and went to his trunk. He looked inside at his miserable wardrobe. 'I really need to get some new clothes,' he thought bitterly to himself. 'Maybe next time I go shopping I can go by myself so I can purchase a new wardrobe.' He pulled out o pair of pants and a shirt and headed to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, he and Ron emerged into the brightly lit kitchen.

"It's about time!" Hermione complained loudly. "You two have been up there for ages."

"Up there confessing your undying love for each?" Fred asked mockingly.

"I really thought you would have waited until school to do that," George added teasingly.

Ginny sent a scathing look at her older twin brothers, Ron turned almost completely red, Hermione pretended like she was gagging, and Mrs. Weasley continued cooking as if she hadn't heard anything.

"Of course," Harry replied sarcastically, playing along. "What else would we have been doing?"

"Shagging like rabbits," Fred and George said in unison after they shared a look.

"But we hadn't even confessed our love yet. How would you expect us to do that?"

"I'm sure you'd find a way."

"But what about marriage? Sex before marriage? It's an outrage!" He didn't know why but he was actually having fun with this. He continued to be oblivious to every one else around him.

In the mean time, Ginny looked as she was about to attack her brothers, Ron was a very dangerous shade of red, and Hermione had an odd look on her face that said 'I can't believe they're still talking about this'.

"Like marriage has ever stopped anyone," George said matter of fact like.

"Maybe not you," Harry mocked.

"This conversation is not about me!" he cried, falsely indignant. "It's about you!'

"Alright you win!" Harry cried throwing up his hands. "I thought I could out last you through this awkwardness but it turns out that I can't!"

"Don't feel bad Harry-" Fred said.

"No one can," George finished.

"Well sit down," Mrs. Weasley said as she sat plates down in front of every ones chair. "You don't want it to get cold do you?"

"So what are you guys going to do today?" Ginny asked, swallowing her anger.

"Well we're obviously going to get out school things," Ron answered mockingly, having recovered from his embarrassment.

"That's not what I meant," she said, a little bit of her seeping into her words. "I meant where are you guys planning on going first."

"I'm not sure where we're going to go first," Harry said thoughtfully. "But you're welcome to come with us if you'd like."

"Well of course I want to go!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly. "I was just about to ask if I could go with you."

"Well then," Harry said after a bite of toast. "I guess we're all going to be hanging out today. Of course, if that's all right with you Mrs. Weasley."

"Why of course it is Harry," the plump woman gushed from the other side of the kitchen. "Just so long as you all stay together and keep each other safe, there are people put there how would like nothing better the to bring harm to any of you."

"Of course we'll stay together, it would be most foolish of us to split up in the middle of Diagon Alley," Hermione said to Mrs. Weasley. "You needn't worry."

"Yeah, Mom," Fred cut in.

"We'll be there to protect them if the situation calls for it," George finished.

"Maybe we should worry," Harry said, poking fun at his favorite pair of twins, they wouldn't be the favorite if he actually liked any other pair of twins he knew.

"Enough talk," Mrs. Weasley said as she bustled around the kitchen, cleaning up the breakfast mess. "You should all get ready to leave. We'll be traveling by Floo so you had all better be ready. The connection will only stay open for so long."

"Yes Ma'am," they chorused as they al headed to their rooms to retrieve their supply lists.

**--**

"It isn't fair. Mother," a very agitated blonde stated, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Now Dragon, you know you have no choice in this matter."

"I will not marry mother," Draco said stubbornly. "I am too young to be expected to commit like this."

"Stop being foolish, Draco. You know as well as I that this betrothal is binding. There is no way out of it."

"But Mother, it is not fair! Why should I have to honor a commitment Father made before I was even born?"

"The Vassily1 child would be a great asset to our family Draco. Their blood would make you and your children stronger," Narcissa Malfoy said calmly, trying to sooth her upset child.

"I do not care, Mother. I should be able to decide who I wish to marry. What if I do not even like them?" Draco asked falling gracefully onto his bed.

"You know that not all marriages are based on love, child. I do not wish to do this-"

"Then why do it?" Draco all but yelled screamed at his mother. "Why did you agree to this? You had a say in this, I know you did!"

"It isn't that simple Draco," Narcissa argued back, anger rising. "Your father and I had no choice in the matter. If we would have refused they would have killed us."

"What if I love someone else?"

"It would not be important to them, Draco, you know that."

"Why was it so important to them? A family as prestigious as theirs should have had no trouble finding a spouse for their child. Why did it have to be me?"

"You're a pureblood Draco-"

"Don't give me that," Draco spat. "We are not the only pureblood family. They're not even British. Why come all the way here to form a marriage contract?"

"Because of your creature blood, Draco," Narcissa said sadly.

"What do you mean? No one is to know about that. How could they possibly know about that?"

Narcissa didn't answer her son; she just looked at him sadly. She knew her son could not get out of this marriage. Not even death could break this contract. "I am sorry, Dragon. When I agreed to this I believed the Vassily child to be dead. I had no idea."

"So I have no choice?" Draco asked sullenly, resigned to his fate.

"No, you do not."

"Do I have to tell anyone yet?" Narcissa shook her head in the negative. "I would like to be left alone," Draco stated stoically, eyes never leaving the ceiling.

Narcissa got up and walked to the door of her son's room. She took one last look at her solemn son before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

**--**

All the Weasley children, Harry, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley were all crowded into the cozy sitting room at the Burrow. Fred and George were put in charge of making the fire while Mrs. Weasley divided the students in twos, using the buddy system. "These are the groups Harry and Ron, Hermione and Ginny, and of course Fred and George. You are not to separate from your buddy. You are in charge of keeping each other safe when we go our separate ways."

They all nodded in understanding, the fire blazing brightly in the pit.

"Alright then, Fred, George you go first." She watched as the twins grabbed some Floo powder and stepped into the fire, calling out 'Diagon Alley', and disappeared. "Harry and Ron, then the girls, don't leave until I get there."

They landed at a small shop at the end of Diagon Alley that Harry had never been to before. Harry looked around, taking in his surroundings. The shop seemed to be a bit run down, full of little knick-knacks and tattered old books. It resembled a muggle thrift store. The shop keeper smiled warmly at them as they brushed the soot off of their clothes.

"Hello, how are you today?" Said shop keeper asked kindly. He had light brown hair that was streaked with darker highlights and blue eyes accented with hints of brown in them. He had soft features, giving him an effeminate quality.

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley answered, having landed in the shop. "How are you?"

"Oh, never better," he replied, shifting his gaze to Harry. "Always new people to meet everyday and some people you've met before." He seemed to be speaking directly to Harry.

'Why is he staring at me?' Harry thought turning away, uncomfortable under the intense gaze.

'I'm not staring, merely observing,' a voice replied in his head. He jumped at the sound of this voice and bumped into Ginny, who was standing a bit too close to him. She blushed.

"Well I don't mean to be rude, Eros, but we must be going now," Mrs. Weasley said politely.

"Why of course, I didn't expect that you would stay here the whole time. I take it I'll see you later?" the shop keeper, also known as Eros, stated.

"Yes, have a good day."

"You too, Molly." Mrs. Weasley blushed. It wasn't everyday that you spoke to a beautiful creature such as Eros. Mrs. Weasley ushered the children outside of the small shop before they had time to see her embarrassment.

Out in crowded streets of Diagon Alley they stopped. "We'll meet back here at 2 o'clock?" the burly woman asked her charges.

They teens agreed as they headed in the opposite direction of the older woman. Mrs. Weasley headed down the street to collect Ginny's school supplies, not trusting her baby to collect them or her self. Ginny glared at her mothers retreating back, knowing the exact thoughts that were going through the women's head.

Fred and George decided that it was time to leave the students alone so that they could explore Diagon Alley without the sniveling brats reporting their every move to their mother, they couldn't have that now. With the exception of Harry of course. "Well we would love to stay here and baby-sit you all, but sadly we have better things to do with our time," Fred said rather mockingly.

"But you're welcome to come with us Harry, your company isn't totally unbearable," George said with a grin that hid what he was really saying from everyone but Harry and Fred.

"No thanks," Harry said, declining the offer politely. "I think I'll stay here with these guys."

"Suit yourself Harry," George started.

"We were only trying to offer you some better company," Fred finished.

"I resent that statement," Ginny exclaimed, offended.

"But we don't care," Fred said as he turned around and started walking away.

"We'll see you all later then," George said as he turned and followed his twin.

"They can be so obnoxious sometimes," Ginny said as she watched her older twin brothers as they left.

"Must run in the family," Harry muttered to Hermione, she giggled.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked eyeing the two suspiciously.

"Oh nothing Ron," Hermione said, patting Ron on the back. "It wasn't anything important."

"Oh," Ron muttered, believing the girl of his dreams almost immediately. "Well what should we do now? Mom's out of our hair for about another three hours, so really we don't have any rules."

"Of course we have rules, Ronald," Hermione said in her most strict voice. "If we didn't have any rules to follow, who's to say we wouldn't get ourselves killed?"

"Oh come on Hermione, don't be such a goody-two-shoes," Harry said coming to his friends rescue. "Ron's not saying that we should be totally irresponsible, only that we could have a little bit more fun than we normally could under the watchful gazes of the adults."

"Oh is that all?" Hermione said, hands on her hips. "Without rules there wouldn't be any structure in our society, everything would come crashing down around us. Besides, they're only looking out for our best interests."

"We look out for our best interests too and we manage to have some fun," Ron stated, not about to take this lying down. "They just don't remember what it's like to be young anymore."

Hermione looked from one best friend to the other, knowing that she couldn't win against both of them. She looked to Ginny for some help, but let's just face it, a rock with a smiley face painted on it would be more helpful than Ginny when she was with Harry. "Fine, let's just drop it," she sighed. "What did you two have in mind?"

"Well first off," Harry started. "We should actually get our school stuff, and then decide what to do depending on how much time we have left."

"But I want to do something fun now," Ginny protested.

"_We_ actually have to go and get our own school things, Ginny. Mom's not getting ours for us," Ron said mockingly to his little sister. He got a dirty look in response from said red-headed girl.

"Well then," Hermione said, cutting off the inevitable fight that was about to happen. "How about we start and Flourish and Blot's, then we'll work our down the street.

"Sounds good to me," Ron said. Harry and Ginny nodded.

The four of them headed off in the direction of the store, never noticing a set of blue eyes that were watching them the whole time.

**--**

About two and a half hours later found the four teens standing in Diagon Alley, three of which had arms full of books. Having completed all of their school shopping, except for Ginny, The now had nothing of importance to do.

"Well what should we do now?" Ginny asked her brother and two friends struggling to hold on to their heavy loads. He felt no inclination to help them out.

"Go somewhere were we can put these blasted books down," Ron replied, face turning red from the strain of caring his books as well as some of Hermione's.

"How about we go get some ice cream?" Hermione supplied, taking some pity on the boy carrying most of her books.

"Sounds good to me," Ron panted, walking off in the direction of the small ice cream parlor.

The four walked the short distance to the ice cream parlor and deposited their heavy loads on the table. They all ordered their preferred frozen treat and sat down among all of their books. Hermione took a seat next to Ron, across from Harry and Ginny. They ate in peace, while keeping up a mild conversation, holding nothing of importance. They remained outside of the parlor sitting at the table, even after they all had finished, just talking and passing the time until Mrs. Weasley's set meeting time. That time came all too soon.

"Well," Hermione said, shuffling about and gathering her books. "We're supposed to be meeting Mrs. Weasley in about ten minutes; we should be going."

They other three solemnly agreed and stood up, gathering their thing sin the process. They headed back to the little run-down, where they saw Mrs. Weasley waiting impatiently on the walk. "You're late," she said disapprovingly.

"No we're right on time, just like we said we would be," Ginny said defiantly.

"Do not take that tone of voice Ginerva," Mrs. Weasley said dangerously. Ginny huffed and looked down at the ground. "Well let's get back," she stated as she turned and walked into the store. The reluctant teens followed, already missing the brief freedom that they were losing.

"I'll see you soon, Mrs. Weasley," Eros called. He was still looking Harry, causing the before mentioned teen to shiver.

"Yes, goodbye, Eros," Mrs. Weasley replied, uneasy at his cryptic statement.

In a matter of moments, they were all gone, leaving the shop devoid of all human life.

**--**

"Was that him?"

"Yes."

"And you just let him leave?"

"They'll be back soon."

"How can you be so sure?"

An evil smirked played across his lips as he held up the book in his hands. "They left something behind."

"I love the way you think. You always plan ahead." The two beings shared wicked grins before disappearing from the spot, they had other matters that needed to be attended to before this plan could be put into action.

--

**Alright, this is longer than the last chapter, but until I get a good sense of where this story is going, updates may be a little slow, but I promise they won't be this slow again. Please Review!!**


	4. Overdue Confrontations

**Hello, again. I know this has taken forever, but… I'm the author and you should feel happy that I updated at all!! JK!! But I did update so there!!!**

Narcissa Malfoy was torn. She knew that she either had to marry off her only child to a complete stranger or hid him away from the world; either way her Dragon would not be happy. Things would be so much easier if Lucius were here; he was always good at finding solutions to difficult problems. If she could only find him…

A loud pop interrupted her rather melancholy thoughts. "Mistress?" a rather shrill voice said tentatively.

"What is it?" she responded distractedly.

"There is people here requesting the Mistress, they is waiting in the foyer for her," the house elf answered, bowing so deeply, her noise practically touched the ground.

"Tell them I will be down momentarily," Narcissa said, sweeping past the small elf and walking towards the door.

"They ask for Master Draco too, Mistress," the house elf added in a small voice, knowing his mistress would not be happy about this.

Narcissa stopped immediately. _They can't be here already, _she thought, a little panicked. _Draco has only just turned sixteen, it is still too early._ She took a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves ad continued out of the door, ignoring the house elf as it disappeared to inform the guests of her delayed arrival.

She took the stairs up to Draco's room two at a time, all decorum forgotten. She knocked briefly on her son's door before pulling it open and hastily shutting it behind her. "Dragon, you must come downstairs with me," she called to her son, who didn't seem to be listening. She noticed that he had not moved much at all since she left his room hours previously.

"Why mother? I do not wish to."

"I am afraid you have no choice, Draco. There are people here who wish to speak with the both of us and they do not like to be kept waiting."

"What business would they have with me?"

"There is no time to explain now, please try not to be difficult, this is very important," Narcissa said, practically pleading with her son.

"Draconis Lucian Malfoy, I will leave this room for two minutes and when I return you had better be presentable for our guests, do you understand me?" she was beyond asking now.

"Yes Mother," Draco replied sullenly as he got up off of his bed.

"Good," she said as she swept out of the room to make sure she was presentable as well.

About two minutes later both Malfoy's stood at the top stairs, one apprehensive and one impassive, ready to confront their guests. Narcissa did her best to hide her emotions, and she did a pretty good job of it considering the circumstances.

"Are you alright Mother?" Draco asked, looking at his mother in concern.

"Fine, Draco," Narcissa breathed. "Let's go."

Everything had been going peacefully in the Weasley home, a shocking experience to say the least. Fred and George had holed themselves up in their room doing… well no one really knew what they were doing; it's best they left it that way. The rest of the children had been lounging in the sitting room when Mrs. Weasley bustled in, looking a little flustered.

"Everyone check your bags and make sure you have all of your school supplies."

"But I just put everything away," Ron complained as he got up to do as he was told.

A good ten minutes later and all the books were properly sorted and put back in their places. Ron was pretty sure that is mother had finally lost her mind, making them look through books that they had just put away.

"Is anyone missing anything?" she asked calmly.

"I am," Ginny spoke up, "I missing my Divination book."

"Well, it looks like we'll have to go back," Mrs. Weasley sighed.

This statement caused uproar of indignation.

"That's not fair! Ginny's the one who forgot her book, she should be the only one who has to go back!" Ron stated heatedly.

"Ronald," Mrs. Weasley warned. Fred and George chose this moment to come downstairs, having heard the whole thing from up in their room.

"But-"

"Now Ron," Fred interrupted, "you need to listen to your mother; she's frustrated enough as it is."

"And besides," George continued, "this just gives all of you more time to hang out in Diagon Alley, instead of being cooped up in here."

"I agree with them," Harry stated to the suddenly quiet room.

"I do too," Hermione agreed, eager to end this argument.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "See Ron, it won't be that bad going back. Now everyone get ready to go."

"Now hold on a second Mum," George said while moving to stand in front of the fire place.

"Why not wait until tomorrow?" Fred suggested moving next to his twin in front of the fire place.

"Why should we? I'd rather finish all of the shopping today, so I do not have to worry about it anymore."

"But think about it Mother," George said.

"I'm sure there are more things you'll have to worry about around the house, if we leave right now," Fred added.

"But if we wait until tomorrow, the Auror's will be here to take us."

"That way you won't have to deal with it."

"But school starts soon, we won't really have enough time to go any other day," Mrs. Weasley argued.

"School doesn't start for another three days Mother."

"And besides, wouldn't you want us to spend the rest of our vacation time having fun with all of our family."

"We have to go back to school the day after tomorrow."

"Do not remind me," Mrs. Weasley. "I really wish you two would reconsider ad finish your schooling."

"No can do Mum," Fred said, smiling. "We've already made a name for ourselves."

"We can't just close up shop, all of our customers would not be happy."

"Fine, you're never going to listen to me anyway."

"So you agree that we can finish shopping tomorrow?"

"Yes!" the twins stated in unison. "Let's go outside and play some Quidditch!"

"You planned this from the very beginning didn't you?" Harry asked as they followed the twins outside.

"Doesn't it really matter?" Fred responded.

"We got you out of going, didn't we?" George added.

"Yeah I guess so."

"She seemed surprised to see us."

"Yes she did," came the distracted response.

"Eros."

The blonds snapped his head up in attention. "Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing important," Eros replied dismissively.

Green eyes narrowed. "Do not lie to me."

"They're coming," Eros stated, switching the subject.

"Do not think I will let this go."

Eros ignored the comment and stood. "Mrs. Malfoy, looking as fine as ever I see," he flashed a dazzling smile.

She returned his smile with a forced one of her own. "A pleasure to see you again Eros, although I wish the situation could be a little more pleasant."

"Yes, but you knew this day would come eventually."

Draco was not paying attention to his mothers conversation, he was to busy staring at the two people before him. He was told that this betrothal was arranged before he himself was even born, but if that were true then the two in front of him should at least be his parents age, or even older. But they didn't look much older then him, maybe twenty at the oldest. Draco mentally flinched when he realized the one who had remained seated was staring at him, unblinking.

Eros seemed to sense Draco's sudden discomfort. "Do not mind him Draconis," Draco's attention snapped to the blue-eyed man. "He will not harm you." Draco could not keep the skeptical look off of his face. "You're scaring him," Eros said to his partner.

"I do not care," was the response he received.

"Don't mind him," Eros smiled and said reassuringly, as he sat back down. "He does not use his manners as he should."

"You have not changed at all since I met you last, Damainos," Narcissa said calmly, taking a seat with Draco. Green eyes snapped their attention to her.

"You expected me too?" Damainos asked amusement in his voice.

"Not at all," she said, but her expression turned serious. "Why now, after all of these years, do you come back?"

"You can not tell me you are honestly surprised," he said, a vicious smile spreading across his beautiful lips. "Our child turns sixteen this year, you know this."

"I was told your child was dead," Narcissa stated, a bit surprised by this news.

"One child died that night, but it was not ours," Eros said. "But now is neither the time nor the place for this story."

"I understand. But my question has not been answered yet. Why do you come here now when you do not have your child with you?"

"We are here to make sure that your husband has kept his end of the bargain."

"And that would be…?"

"If he did not tell you, maybe it is not your place to know," Eros said, surveying the confusion written on Draco's face.

"Surely it just slipped his mind, he must have forgotten to tell me," Narcissa said carefully, prying for information.

"Something like this does not easily slip the mind," Damainos stated in amusement. "It is not our place to tell you. You will have to take this up with your husband."

"Speaking of which," Eros stated suddenly. "Where is Lucius?"

"Azkaban," she stated simply. "But I assure you any matters you have with him can be discussed with me."

"Ah, but they can't. We shall have to see him at the prison then," Eros sighed.

"What is wrong with this child?" Damainos asked in amusement, referring to Draco's flustered face.

Eros took a moment to figure out what he was talking about. "He's probably just confused. He has no idea who we are does he Narcissa?"

"No he does not," she said, looking uneasily at Draco.

"I am Damainos Vassily, and this is my husband Eros."

Draco's confused state melted into a look of understanding. It all made sense now, how they seemed to know him, but he had no clue who the where. "Nice to meet you," Draco said quietly, wanting to ask a question, but holding his tongue.

"I see he does know something about us," Eros laughed. "Be sure to let him know everything, Narcissa. We wouldn't want his head filled with delusions.

"Of course. Is there anything else that you wished to speak with me about?"

"Not at this moment," Damainos stated. "If there is something you wish to ask, boy, spit it out. Nothing will ever be accomplished if you hold your tongue."

Draco physically jumped at being addressed so suddenly. He hesitated for a few moments not sure if he should answer. He quickly decided that he should answer when the green eyes on him narrowed. "I was just wondering… how old you were."

Green eyes shown with amusement. "What would compel you to ask something like that?"

"Well Mother told me that you all had made a deal before I was even born. So that would make you the same age, or eve older then my parents, but you barley look older than me."

Damainos laughed. "It's nice to know that you can use your brain. How old do you think we are?"

"Based on facts or appearance?"

"Combine them; give me an estimate."

"I would say somewhere between thirty and thirty-five." This time both of the Vassily's laughter could be heard after this comment.

"As flattering as that is," Eros laughed. "We are a lot older than that."

"How old exactly?" Draco asked genuinely curious.

"Weren't you taught that it's rude to ask people their age?" Eros asked.

"It's only rude to ask women," Draco said offhandedly, waiting for the answer to his question.

"I like this one," Damainos said. "He is entertaining. If you really must know, I am 157 and Eros is 153."

Draco's eyes widened, although his mouth did not drop. "Are you serious?"

"Quite."

"…I don't know what to say to that."

"There really isn't anything to say to that," Eros laughed. "Not to be rude, Narcissa, but we have other matters to attend to. It is time for us to leave."

"Of course. Be sure to keep in touch this time."

"Believe me, you'll be seeing more of us around," Damainos stated as he stood up and headed for the door, Eros following behind him.

"Give my regards to my husband?"

"Of course," Eros replied as the door shut behind them.

"Why did you not see them out?" Draco asked

"Because normal rules do not apply to them. They only try to keep up their manners for us. Their customs are quite different, but I suppose you will have to learn them eventually.

"What do you mean Mother?"

"I will explain it to you later, Dragon."

"Alright, but what did you mean about them giving your regards to Father?"

"Didn't you here them? They said that they would have to take some matters up with your father."

"That doesn't mean they are going to see him," Draco stated as if his mother had lost her mind.

"When you're dealing with those two it does."

"I don't understand."

"They will stop at nothing to ensure the best for their child."

"I assume you will explain these cryptic statements to me at a later time."

"Don't I always?" Narcissa replied as she walked away from here son.

"Do you always have to be so difficult?" Draco mumbled under his breath, as he walked to his own room.

**Ok so there it is, there 4****th**** chapter!! Now I have some side notes just so you can be included in my thoughts too!! Ok so Vassily is pronounced Vuh-seel-eye, in case anyone cared, and it means royal blood indirectly in Greek. Just thought I'd mention it. Most names I make up will usually have some sort of meaning, except for Eros, it's actually my friends name and I thought it would fit in this story quite nicely; I have no idea what it means. Damainos is pronounced Day-May-Nus, and it means one who kills, so beautiful!! Any other names mentioned will be explained later, cause if I explained them now, too much plot would be given away!! Bye-bye!!**


	5. Just When You Thought You Knew

**Oh it makes me so happy that people are actually reading this!! And some of your reviews are like, really accurate, but I can't tell you who!! ;) Anyways, I had this direction that my story was going in, but after all of the feedback I think I might twist my plot just a little bit, just to keep you all guessing. But nothing too much will be changing!! And by the way, I love all of your reviews, even the ones that are really short!! I love them all!! And as you can see, more reviews means faster updates… keep that in mind! ;) I know you all didn't click this link to read me talk (weird way to put things) so here is your story!!**

There are many things in life that one never wishes to face. Their worst fears, past regrets, things that should remain forever buried in the dark depths of ones closed mind, never to see the light of day again. Unfortunately, this little problem refused to be one of those things.

On this warm and pleasant day of August, a dark haired youth stood apprehensively on the doorstep of a manor. Confronting ones parents, after being gone so long, was not one of the most pleasant and comfortable things on could experience. Many things would be much more preferable, like pulling out everyone of your fingernails and then dipping the raw appendages into rubbing alcohol. It was that bad.

As the raven haired youth slowly ascended the step, cold, stone, steps, they listed of the main reasons why they should not be going through with this. First and foremost, they had not seen or spoken to their parents in years. Second, the parents could be a bit intimidating, and if the stories were true, quite merciless. And third, that horrid marriage contract they were trying to force on their poor child. Didn't they realize that arranged marriages were completely outdated? Of course they didn't.

As they child reached the door, they raised a shaken hand and knocked lightly, hoping that no one would answer.

Not but two seconds after knocking, the door was opened; a pair of blue eyes stared down upon the hesitant child. "Do not look so frightened child, we will not harm you."

"Speak only for you, Eros," Damainos stated peeing over the other being. "We can not guaranty complete safety. But be warned, those who are responsible for this little… inconvenience your being away has caused, will pay dearly… with their lives."

The youth could not hide their fear as they were led into the manor by the strange men in the doorway.

"I'm telling you, we won the game!"

"And I'm telling you that you all cheated!"

"How can you say we cheated? You're the ones that chose the teams!"

"No we didn't! It's not fair! All the people who actually play the sport year round were on one team! There was no way we could have won!"

"Do you two ever stop fighting?" Harry asked as he walked past the bickering red-heads.

"It's not like it's my fault, she started," Ron said heatedly, glaring at his younger sister.

"Oh don't even go there! You're the one who can't count to save his life!" Ginny responded, just as fiercely as her brother.

"Enough, the both of you," Fred interrupted.

"You can't keep acting like a bunch of babies forever," George added.

"Let's just call it a draw-"

"-so that way no one wins."

"Fine," Ron and Ginny sighed in unison.

"About time," Harry sighed. "I thought we would have to lock you two up I a room together until you settled your differences."

"That is still an option," George replied evilly.

"That won't be necessary," Ginny scoffed as she walked ahead of the rest and toward the house. "You had better hurry up, Dad will be home soon, and you know how Mum can get if you are late to dinner."

"What's got he so upset?" Ron asked.

"Do you ever use that head of yours?" Fred asked, ruffling his bothers hair.

"It's not like I did anything to make her mad."

"Right… because you never do anything," George replied sarcastically.

"Hey where's Hermione?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"I haven't seen her since we started playing. She went inside when we asked her to keep score," Fred answered.

"So it's her fault that we couldn't decide who won the match," Ron muttered to himself, although not very quietly.

"So no one has seen her since?" Harry asked, ignoring Ron's not-so-inner musings.

"It would seem that way," George said.

"I'll go look for her," Ron said suddenly. "Someone needs to go get her for dinner, and you all know how she can be sometimes."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Fred said and George agreed.

"Alright, but hurry up, wouldn't want to give your mum reason to yell at you," Harry said jokingly.

"Right," Ron said as he took off inside the house, and up the stairs to the room he shared with Harry.

When he arrived in the room he pushed open the door, and watched a familiar head of bushy hair travel around the room. He watched her look for… whatever it was she was looking for, for a couple of moments before he coughed to announce his presence.

Hermione looked up from her position on the floor, where she was currently looking underneath a bed. "Well are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me look?"

"Look for what exactly?" Ron asked as he hesitantly made his way into the room.

"Whatever Harry's hiding from us."

"What makes you think that Harry's hiding something from us?"

"Think about it Ron, why would Sirius send him owl treats for Hedwig for _his _birthday?"

"Maybe he just forgot to get him something important or useful. He might be sending him something else later on." Ron reasoned as he sat own on the bed Hermione was not looking under.

"Well that doesn't make any sense," Hermione cried as she sat up and looked at Ron. "Why would he even bother sending something? He could have just told Harry by letter that he would have to wait for a decent birthday present. It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe you're just thinking to hard about things. He's probably got a lot to do right now; he probably didn't have time to get Harry a decent present."

"What could he have possibly been doing?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Does it really matter?" Ron asked. "It's not like it's any of your business."

"Of course it's my business," She sighed exasperatedly, like he had no brains at all.

"What exactly make sit your business?"

Hermione was silent for a moment, not having a snappy comeback like she usually did. "Dumbledore told us to watch Harry, make sure he didn't get himself into anything that would not be acceptable."

"What exactly does that have to do with Sirius? If Harry got anything worth while, don't you think he would have told us?"

"No, actually, I don't."

"He's your friend! What did he ever do to not deserve your trust?"

"He's done plenty," Hermione said as she tried, for what felt like the millionth time, to open the trunk at the foot of Harry's bed. "Why won't this blasted thing open?"

"Maybe the spell is just too complicated for you to unlock," Hermione glared at Ron for his comment. "But anyway, why don't you just ask Harry if he got anything special from Sirius for his birthday? He would have no reason to lie to you."

"What do you mean by that? It's not like you're not part of this." When Ron didn't respond, she went on. "Are you in this with me, or not?"

"Right about now, I'm not so sure. I don't think I could betray the trust of one of my best friends."

"Oh, come off of it," Hermione hissed. "You weren't so against this in the beginning, what has changed so drastically now?"

"I don't know," Ron sighed. "But it just feels so wrong now."

"Well let's hope you lose these feelings before something bad happens as a result. Maybe once we get to school you'll feel better; you've just been spending too much time with him lately."

"Whatever you say Hermione," Ron said as he lay back on his bed, seriously doubting what the brunette girl was telling him. "We should go down to dinner now, wouldn't want anyone to come looking for us."

"You go down, I'll meet up with you," Hermione said, still content on looking through their friends' stuff.

"I think you should stop going through his stuff, it's not right," Ron said as he got up and made his way to the door.

"If you're not going to help me, make yourself useful and go and tell the others I'm in the bathroom or something, and that I'll be down soon."

"Whatever you say, Hermione," Ron sighed as he left the room.

Hermione sat sifting through Harry's new school books, which he had yet to put away, for awhile before she heard a thump from behind her. She dismissed it at first but froze when she heard a voice.

"You know, invading someone's privacy is not very nice," Hermione whirled around to see the source of the voice. She saw a flash of black hair and pale skin, but then everything went black, and the scream died in her throat.

Have you ever been in a situation so uncomfortable that you could practically hear peoples' negative thoughts before they even had the chance to think them themselves? This was one of those times.

Damainos and Eros sat on one couch, while across from them sat a very uncomfortable dark-haired youth.

Eros stared in quiet contemplation as he regarded the child that sat before them. "Tell me child, do you know who we are?"

There was silence for a short period of time before a timid voice answered, "Yes."

"I don't believe it," Damainos stated coldly. "No child of mine would act so submissive and compliant."

"Because arrogance runs in your family?" the youth questioned, truly curious.

"And so stupid," Damainos scoffed. "There is no way."

"No look what you did," Eros reprimanded. "The poor child looks like it is going to cry."

"I don't care."

"You should care; what if this is our child?"

"It's not."

"How can you talk about me as if I'm not even here?" the child growled, angered about being ignored. "And I am not a thing, you can stop addressing me as 'it' any time now."

"If we were your parents," Damainos ground out, "do you think that would be anyway to talk to us?"

"If you were my parents, would you hold me with such unimportance, that you would refer to me as an 'it'?"

"The tongue on this one," Eros laughed. "Do you still doubt this child to be yours?"

"For now I do not," Damainos said, eyeing the child carefully. "But I will always be watching, for any signs of change."

"Why not just cast a spell to find my lineage?"

Damainos smiled. "That would take all the fun out of watching you squirm."

Hermione regained consciousness several minutes later. She sat up and looked around, only to find that she was alone. As she looked, she realized that something lay next to her, like it had fallen on her head. 'That's odd,' she thought as she rubbed her head. 'I could have sworn I heard a voice…'

She stood up and decided to make her way downstairs; there was no use in looking anymore, especially when everyone was expecting her downstairs.

As she walked into the kitchen she noticed that everyone was already seated. "Hey," she said as she took the open seat next to Ron.

"Jeeze Hermione, what took you so long?" George said, looking a bit worried.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at Ron for some help.

"Ron told us that you were in the bathroom, like, ten minutes ago. Are you feeling alright," Fred asked, trying not to laugh.

Hermione blushed, "Yes, I'm feeling okay, I was just looking for something in my room," she lied.

"Alright, then," Mrs. Weasley said as she walked into the room. "Now that we're all here," a pointed look at Hermione, who blushed a little deeper, "we can start eating."

Immediately everyone dug in. The silence reigned until everyone had started eating. The kind of silence that is comfortable, comfortable until it is broken at least.

"So Ron," Mr. Weasley stared. "You and Hermione seem to be getting close."

Ron coughed and almost choked on the fork full of food that he was trying to shove into his mouth. His face had turned a shade of red that could have rivaled his hair. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Mr. Weasley said smiling. "What about you Harry?"

"What about me?" Harry asked, actually confused. Fred and George snorted.

"Oh never mind," Mr. Weasley said, smile never leaving his face.

The rest of dinner went on in relative silence, a few side conversations here and there, but nothing as awkward as that conversation could have been.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Draco Malfoy sat in his room, on his bed, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing better to do. All of the school shopping was done, his mother had ordered all of his books by owl, and he had already packed everything in his trunk. Sadly, sitting around doing nothing left plenty of time for the mind to wonder; wonder to things he would rather not think about.

For one, there was the fact that his father was in Azkaban, in and of itself a reason to reject the future his father had wanted for him. It was unlikely Lucius would make his only son join a leader who cared so little about his followers.

Then there was always his arranged marriage. He had always thought that he was betrothed to Pansy Parkinson, that's what she was convinced of anyway. He had pestered his mother nonstop since the Vassily's left. She was rather tightlipped on the whole detail thing, but he had managed to get some kind of information out of her.

It seemed that the Vassily's were a prominent Greek family and that among the wizarding world, they were royalty. Apparently they ha one child, but his mother said not to hold her to that bit of information. It was common belief that they were the last of their line, their whole family having been slaughtered some 80 years prior. It was understandable that they would choose a prominent spouse for their child, wanting to preserve their lineage.

That wasn't what Draco was worried about. He had lived with the idea of an arranged marriage all of his life. What scared him the most was that he had never met his 'intended'. He had never even heard of the family before recently.

"Draco?"

Silence.

"Draco?" his mother called again as she walked into his room.

"Yes?" Draco called back, turning his head to look at his mother.

"What's wrong Dragon? I called you twice before you answered me," Narcissa said worriedly as she sat at the foot of the bed.

"Nothing's wrong, Mother. I was just thinking. What did you come to talk to me about?"

"Yes," Narcissa sighed as she folded her hands in her lap. "Are you looking forward to school?"

"Not necessarily," Draco said slowly. "That isn't what you came in here to talk about though, is it?"

"No it's not Draco, but now that I'm here, I think it is best to have this conversation a better time," she said as she stood up and walked toward the door.

"What is the point of this Mother? Why would you come in here and then not tell me the reason? That does not help my stress levels at all you know."

"I know, and I am sorry Dragon. But right now is not the right time to tell you all of this."

"When would be a good time to tell me Mother," Draco growled. "It is only my life we're talking about here, not like it's anything important."

"I cannot deal with you when you're like this," Narcissa sighed as she opened the door. "I will come back when you have calmed down. But I will tell you this one thing, the woman you are betrothed to, goes by the name of Zosime." She winced as she heard glass shattering against the wall behind the door.

**­**

"What exactly did you do to the bushy haired girl?"

"Nothing that could have killed her. She won't even remember it happening."

"That is not the point. It is to risky exposing all of this right now-"

"Don't you think I know that, Eros? That is exactly why I did it, to keep that nosy little girl from finding out too much."

"Calm down. There is no need for you to get angry," Eros said soothingly.

"I'm not getting angry. I just want you to understand why I did it."

"I do understand, I just think there were better ways for you to go about stopping her."

"It's not like anything will happen to her. We couldn't have one of Dumbledore's little spies mysteriously falling ill; he would think something was up."

"Just don't be reckless. We really can't afford to loose this one."

"Don't act like you're the only ones that care," came the growled response. "If it wasn't for me-"

"I know, and that is why I trust your judgment."

"We both do," Damainos added. "I'm glad we have you on our side in this."

"You should be. Now if you do not mind, I have places to be, and other manners to attend to."

"That is quite alright," Damainos said, silencing his flustered partner, who surely had something else to say. "I trust we will be hearing from you again?"

"Yes you will be. Hopefully we will be meeting again very soon."

**So now the plot has thickened a little bit!! And what is this I hear? Cries of those who thought Harry and Draco were betrothed? I think not, that would make the story too simple, this adds a whole new twist to things!! I would like to say right now that I love all of your reviews!! They make me happy, ad of some of you may have noticed, they inspire me to right!! That explains this chapter!! And for those of you, who care, Zosime means survivor and I don't know exactly how it's pronounced, so I'm not going to pretend that I do. And as a side note, I have almost the entire next chapter written, and I will put it up when I receive a certain number of reviews (10 sounds nice) so I'm sure you will be hearing from me in the near future!!! **

**- The Kanana **


	6. When Plans Don't Go As Planned

**Well here is the new chapter, I don't know why I took so long to post this chapter since it has been written since before I posted chapter 5 but a well, at least I'm updating.**

"Child, are you well?"

"Yes. Why would you ask?"

"No reason really," Eros said as he entered the room. "It's just that you seemed ill when I last spoke to you."

"No, I'm not ill. It just seems… like you do not like me," answered a soft voice.

"We do like you child, you should never feel that way."

"I understand that you like me, but Damainos does not seem like he likes me."

"He'll come around. Things will be easier when you come of age, then he will see for sure that you are really our child."

"Why would you doubt that I am?"

"There have been many who pose as children of our family; people only want what we possess."

"Is it true that you have more than one child? I have heard that from somewhere."

Eros didn't answer right away. He knew there was no one who knew about their children, no one alive that is. "Where did you hear that?"

"I'm not sure; I just remember having heard it before."

"You lost your memories then?"

"I lost a lot of them, but it wasn't anything to do with magic."

"How do you know that?"

"Because the memories are not gone, I can remember some things every so often. The longer I'm around familiar things, the more memories come back to me."

"Have you been getting memories back since you've been here?"

"Yes, I've gotten back quite a lot. Was there a reason you came in here to speak to me?"

"Yes," Eros said slowly. "But I will come back later to tell you. There is something else I must attend to right now."

"So you will come back?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I feel safe when you are around."

"I will return as soon as I can," Eros said as he walked out of the room and shut the door.

He walked towards the large study on the third floor, the most likely of all places that he would find his husband. When he reached the study, he didn't even bother knocking; he pushed open the door and strode inside.

"What do you want, Eros, I am busy," Damainos growled, not even looking up from what he was doing, Eros was the only one who dared come into his study.

"I do not care if you are busy, this matter requires immediate attention," Eros stated calmly as he sat on the edge of the desk. "Whatever you are working on now can wait."

"You seem so certain of this," Damainos said as he looked up at the man sitting before him. "What if I told you that what I am working on is a matter of life or death?"

"Then I would laugh. This is much more important."

"What is it that you find so important?" Damainos asked, with a small smile gracing his full lips.

"I think we should send our child back to school," Eros said, fiddling with some of the papers on the cluttered desk. "And that you should clean more often."

"You seem so convinced that this child is ours," Damainos said, raising an eyebrow at his husband. "And if you have a problem with my office, you can clean it yourself."

"Yes, I do believe the child is ours, and I think you would believe it too if you were willing to spend more than a minute in the same room with us at a time," Eros stated, choosing the more important of the two conversations.

"I have no need to stay in the same room as a child that I doubt is mine," Damainos said flippantly, returning to his work. "If this is all you wished to talk about, we can have this conversation later; I am truly busy."

"No," Eros stated firmly, slamming his hands down on the papers, Damainos was looking at. "I think it would be best if we sent her to school!"

"When did you stop referring to that child as an 'it'?"

"Now, I truly believe she is our child, and I will no longer address her as 'it'. She says she recovers memories the more she is around the familiar. If we send her to school she is bound to remember more!"

"What makes you so sure of that? Is that what she told you? Did you ever consider that she could be lying?" he asked, scorn lacing every word.

"I did," Eros sighed. "But she has remembered things that could very well prove that she belongs to us?"

"Like what?"

"She believes we have another child."

"So do a lot of people, what makes her so special?"

"Nothing, I can see I'm not going to get any where with you," Eros sneered as he stood and walked to the door. "I really can't believe you sometimes though."

"Fine, you can send the girl to school," Damainos sighed, giving his husband a dirty look when he dared pretend to be surprised that he had gotten his way… once again. "But I will have no part in this; when this whole plan of yours blows up in your face, do not expect me to be there to clean up the mess."

"I won't expect you to be, but you'll be there anyway," Eros smiled as he opened the door. "What should we call her?"

"I just told you that I wanted no part of this."

"Fine, I'll let her think of her own name."

"If you're so sure she's our daughter, why not just give her the name?"

"Because if she proves not to be ours, it will be easier to dispose of her if I am not attached."

"Ah, there is the man I know and fell in love with," Damainos replied laughing.

"Yes, hopefully things work out for the best."

"The best for her or the best for us?"

"Are you all ready to go back to Diagon Alley?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she walked into the room all of the children were currently sitting in. "The Aurors will be here in about five minutes to take you all."

"Yes Mother, we've all been ready for ages now," Fred replied, rolling his eyes at his flustered mother.

"It's not like we're going to be gone for ever, maybe an hour or two at the most," George told the woman. "We only need to pick up one book."

"I know that," Mrs. Weasley sighed as she took a seat in a chair. "It's just that there are so many things that could go wrong with this whole plan. I would feel a lot better if I could go along with you all."

"Mother, we'll be going with two very capable Aurors, everything will be just fine," Ginny assured her mother.

"I guess your right," Mrs. Weasley said, but stopped talking when two pops from outside announced the arrival of the Aurors. "Ah, that must be them," she said as she went to the door. "Ah, Tonks, Shacklebolt, it's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, Molly," Tonks said, briefly hugging the woman. Shacklebolt only nodded. "Well is everyone ready to go?"

"Yes," Fred and George said in unison as they jumped up and headed for the door. The others followed there lead.

"Well since it seems like you all were the ones waiting for us, we'll just go right now," Tonks said excitedly as she clapped her hands together. "We'll be back in exactly two hours Molly, so there is no need to worry yourself."

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "But if you're not back by then, you can expect me to hurt you when you do show up."

"Alright then," Tonks said.

"We'll be traveling by flue, only because it is less of a hassle," Shacklebolt cut in. "I will be going first, followed by Fred and George, then Harry and Ron, and then the girls. Everyone understand?"

"Yes," they chorused.

"Alright then, let's go."

"Are you sure that they'll be here?" Damainos asked calmly, loosing patience after sitting there for about twenty minutes.

"Yes, I am," Eros answered for the millionth time. "If you ask me again I will make sure you do go the next time this happens."

"But I'm bored!"

"Entertain yourself then."

"I shouldn't have to! That's what the rest of you are here for, to entertain me."

Eros gave him a cold look, but did not respond.

"How long are we going to have to wait here?"

"Until they come," Eros growled. "If I hear you complain one more time I'm going to hit you."

"Is that a promise?" Damainos asked playfully, laughing when he noticed the slight twitch in his husbands' eye.

"I don't know why I put up with you," Eros sighed as he slouched farther into his chair.

"I don't know either," another voice laughed as the person made their way into the room. "I take it he is driving you crazy?"

"Doesn't he always?"

"I resent that statement," Damainos said, narrowing his eyes at the intruder.

"But no one cares about your opinion, must be difficult for you," was the sneered response.

"I swear I'll-"

"Damainos stop," Eros said, putting a hand on said persons shoulder to keep him from doing anything rash. "I understand that he gets on your nerves, but he is the only one who can help us with this, in case you had not forgotten."

"No I have not forgotten," he ground out, still glaring daggers at the man before him.

"I do hope that when this is all over we could settle our differences," the man said smiling.

A growl was his only response.

"Are you sure they will be here?" Eros asked.

"Of course I'm sure. They know their time limit. I hold them in high esteem; they would not break my trust."

"If you're sure, then we will wait."

"I'm always sure when it comes to things like this," the man laughed as he left the two of them.

When they all arrived in Diagon Alley, Shacklebolt decided that he should lay down some ground rules. "Alright, Tonks, you will be taking Ginny to get her book. You are to be back here in an hour at the longest. The rest of you will be staying with me, except for Fred and George. We will not be going far from this spot, do you understand?" They all nodded in agreement. "Good." And they went their separate ways.

"What should we do first?" Ron asked. "We don't have anything to do, and we have a good amount f time to kill before we go back home."

"We actually have something we need to show Harry," Fred said, looking at Shacklebolt expectantly.

"You have are to be back here before Tonks and Ginny show back up," he said.

"That's not fair!" Ron cried. "How come only Harry gets to go?"

"Isn't it obvious?" George asked.

"We like Harry better,' both twins laughed at the outraged look on Ron's face.

"You can't seriously be letting them go on their own," Hermione said to Shacklebolt.

"And why not?" he asked, as if daring Hermione to come up with a good enough reason. She didn't seem to notice.

"How can you be so sure that they'll be safe?"

"If you haven't noticed," Shacklebolt said, giving Hermione a disapproving glance. "The twins are of legal age, and there for can take care of themselves and Harry if need be; Harry also happens to be a very capable wizard, I doubt that anyone would be foolish enough to approach him with ill intentions alone."

"But what if this person is not alone?"

"A group large enough to take the three of them would surely be detected ad stopped before they even came close to them."

"Why can't they just take us with them?" Ron asked, still upset about his own brothers not wanting to take him with them.

"I can not make them take the two of you. If they don't want you to go, then you won't," Shacklebolt said loosing his patience.

"What could they possibly need to talk to him about that doesn't concern us?"

"They are in business together, maybe its business related."

"Harry, you can't honestly-" but Hermione stopped short when she turned and saw that both Harry and the twins were no where to be seen; they had left very early on in the argument. "Where did they go?"

"I'm not telling you," Shacklebolt replied smugly as he set off at a leisurely walk down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. "You two had better stick with me, wouldn't want anything to happen to you, Molly would have my head."

**­­­­­­­­­­­­­­**

"What did you two need to talk to me about?" Harry asked when they were a good distance away from Hermione and the others. "Was it really necessary to drag me off like this?"

"Yes, it was completely necessary," Fred said as he stopped and turned to Harry.

"What we need to tell you can not be overheard by anyone," George added, also stopping.

"Could it really be that serious?" Harry asked, noticing the silencing charm that Fred had cast around them. "I suppose this was not just your way of getting me away from Ron and Hermione."

"No it's not," Fred said. "But getting you away from them seems to be an added bonus right?"

Harry did not look amused.

"Alright," George said. "We were actually told to get you alone so that you could meet some people."

"Who told you that? And who do I have to meet?" Harry asked, seriously starting to doubt the good intentions behind this.

"We can't tell you who told us, but we can take you to who you're supposed to meet," Fred said pulling on Harry's arm.

"Don't look so frightened, Harry," George said, taking Harry's other arm. "It's not like we would be putting you in any kind of harm."

"Maybe not intentionally," Harry murmured not really paying attention to where he was being dragged. "Where exactly are we going?"

"No where far."

"No where you've never been before."

"Right, because that's very helpful," Harry replied sarcastically.

"We're almost there."

Harry looked around and noticed they hadn't even left Diagon Alley. As a matter of fact, it looked like the same place that they were the day before; near that ratty, old shop that they had flued from. "Is this where we're supposed to be?" Harry asked as the twins stopped right in front of the shop.

"No, this is where you're supposed to be," Fred said, dropping Harry's arm.

"We're not supposed to go inside," George said, dropping Harry's other arm and pushing him closer to the door. "We'll be right out here-"

"-ready to come to your rescue if need be."

"I feel so much safer," Harry replied sarcastically, ignoring the laughs he hear from the twins. "You do realize the sign says 'Closed' right?"

"Don't look at us, we've played our part in this," Fred said.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at the door. What were the chances that it was locked? He didn't think it would be such a good idea to find out. 'Just open the door,' a voice said out of nowhere, making Harry jump. 'It's not going to bite you.'

'I don't like these voices in my head,' Harry thought to himself. 'They only seem to happen around here…' He decided to listen to the voice and try opening the door. To his surprise, it opened. He slowly pushed the door open and made his way inside; he wasn't surprised when the door shut behind him.

The shop hadn't changed at all, although he wasn't quite sure why he had expected it to. The only thing different was the door leading to a back room that he had not seen before. He looked around the shop and didn't see anyone. He decided to head towards that back room door, determined to find somebody; if there was no one here, the door would not have been unlocked.

He pushed open the door and noticed that the room was brightly lit and was decorated with a lot more elegance than the rest of the shop was. It held a rather expensive looking furniture set, and a couple of bookshelves of what appeared to be new books. There was also a liquor cabinet against the back wall that appeared to be unused. As he scanned the room again, he noticed two men sitting on plush black couch that he had somehow missed before.

"You do not seem to be frightened child," the blonde man said, staring intently at Harry. "Why is that?"

Harry recognized him as the shop keeper, although he did not know the man sitting next to him. "I don't see any reason to be afraid."

"So bold," the other man said, smiling. "Have a seat."

Harry did as he was told and sat in an overstuffed armchair that matched the sofa. "Is there a reason that I was brought here?"

"There is a reason for everything child," Eros said laughing.

"That's not what I asked," Harry said flatly, not amused.

"So serious, don't you know how to take a joke?"

"That wasn't funny, I saw no need to laugh," Harry replied, keeping his tone devoid of all emotion.

"Straight to the point I see," the dark aired man said. "That is always a good thing."

"Who are you exactly?"

"Damainos Vassily. I assume you've met my husband?"

Harry eyed the blonde man before stating that he had indeed met him.

"Good, that saves us some time then," Damainos continued. "There are some things that we wish to discuss with you."

"Like what?" Harry asked, curious now; but before he could get an answer to his question, there was a loud explosion from outside.

"What the hell?" he heard Eros say, but everything after that was a blank.

**Well that's the chapter, I have the next one mostly written, but I'm not so happy with it so I might not post it yet. I have some minor plot changes to make he story more interesting to me, cause is I'm not interested in the story, I won't write it. Of and if you see any plot wholes or things that haven't been explained, please point them out cause I might not have caught them all when I reread the first couple of chapters. As always, if you read, you should review. Even those of you that that subscribe but don't review, I can see that. Reviews make update faster!!**


	7. New Plans Form

**It's taken forever but here it is!! The 7****th**** chapter of this tale of (non)epic proportions!! On with the story!!!**

When Harry regained consciousness, he was outside of the shop sitting on the door step, with Fred standing in front of him, and George standing next to him holding a cloth to his head.

"Are you feeling okay?" Fred asked when he realized that Harry was coherent.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well you hit your head pretty hard, you're bleeding pretty badly," George said as he held up they cloth for Harry to see, it was covered in blood.

Harry lifted his hand to feel the spot on his head that was bleeding, he couldn't feel any pain, but when he touched to skin he felt no cut and no blood. "Is this some kind of joke?" Harry asked laughing.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked, eyeing Harry uneasily.

"There's no cut on my head," Harry said laughing. "Is this one of the tricks that you'll be selling in your joke shop? It's pretty good."

"We weren't kidding," George said, examining the place on Harry's head that used to be bleeding. "You were bleeding pretty bad, we were afraid that you wouldn't wake up."

"Seriously guys, it's not funny," Harry said, a sense of uneasiness settling in the pit of his stomach. "You've gone far enough; it's time to be serious."

"But we are being serious!" Fred exclaimed. "You even have a faint mark where the cut used to be." Fred conjured a small mirror and handed it to Harry so he could see for himself that the mark was actually there.

Harry took the mirror and examined the faint line on the side of his head. "I don't understand… How long was I out?"

"Only for a few minutes," George answered. "I don't understand how it healed so fast."

Harry sat there in silence, staring at the scar that shouldn't have been there. As he watched the line became even fainter, and after about two minutes, it was completely gone. "It's as if it was never even there," Harry murmured quietly to himself.

"Let's just forget about it," Fred said, vanishing the mirror and all of the blood. "We should be getting back; it's almost been a half of an hour."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Harry said as he stood and looked around, expecting to see half of the small town in ruins. "Why is nothing destroyed?"

"What do you mean?" George asked apprehensively.

"There was an explosion, a pretty big one too, but nothing around here is destroyed."

"There was no explosion though. You came out here and hit your on the doorframe."

"But… that's not what I remember happening…" Harry said distractedly as he looked back at the little shop. There was indeed a mark on the door frame like he had hit his head there. "I don't understand…"

"Just forget it," Fred said brightly, trying to ease away some of the tension. "Let's just go back to the others, that way we can go home and get the sleep we all so desperately need."

"Yeah," Harry sighed, letting himself be dragged back to the meeting point. As he looked back, he could have sworn he saw someone watching him.

"What the hell was that?" Eros yelled when they had all arrived back at the manor.

"Watch your temper, Eros, you wouldn't want someone to get hurt now would you?" a man said form his sitting position one of the many armchairs.

"Do not tell me to calm down! You're the one who set this whole thing up, and then you go and ruin it before we even have a chance to say anything?"

"I'm surprised," the man said, voice full of mirth. "I would have thought it would be Damainos trying to kill me right about now, you usually do not have a temper."

"You would have a temper too if something like this had happened to you," Eros replied darkly, giving the man a look that promised death in the near future.

"I have," the man growled back.

"Well-"

"Eros, sit down," Damainos said calmly, though the look in his eyes betrayed his calm façade. Eros gave his husband a withering glare before he silently took the seat next to him. "Now, you had better have a damn good reason for what you did," he said addressing the man sitting across from him, "or else there will be dire consequences."

"It's simple really," the man replied, not at all disturbed by the threat. "If you were to talk to the boy now, you would, no doubt about it, have to take him with you. You can't give a young boy that kind of information and expect him to take it well. But with all of the security around him at that point in time, it would be foolish to do anything to him right now. I say we should wait until he is not under such careful watch. Like when he is in school."

"He'll be under even more watch while he is at school," Eros said skeptically. "How would you expect that plan to work there?"

"Simple, Dumbledore gets a little to full of himself sometimes. He thinks that his school is the safest place in the world, when in reality it is easily penetrated. He would be convinced that nothing could harm his precious little tool while he is at the castle, so Harry won't be watched as intently as he is now. We could just have someone from the inside retrieve him for us."

"I suppose that could work," Damainos said slowly. "And it would have a better outcome in the long run."

"Precisely."

"Who exactly is going to be our source on the inside?" Eros said, not liking this plan at all.

"That girl that you are convinced is our daughter," Damainos said. "If she is going to stay with us, she can at least be of some use."

Eros gave his partner a dirty look. "Why are you so willing to go along with this plan?"

"Why are you so against it?" Damainos countered.

"I think that is my cue to leave," the man said while standing. "I will stay in touch." He vanished from the spot.

"I really despise that man," Damainos muttered to the still air.

"I know, but he is family," Eros said soothingly as he stood from his spot. "You would do best to put up with him."

"Why does he have to be the one to help us with this?"

Eros looked at him for a moment before answering, "If it could be any other way, I would change it. But for now we must deal with it." He started to walk from the room. "I must go check on the child, to make sure that she is alright, she has been alone here for quite some time."

"Fine," Damainos mumbled as he also stood. "If you need me you know where to find me."

Eros nodded as he walked out of the sitting room. He mad his way up the stairs to the room they had given the girl for the time being. He knocked lightly before he entered, making sure not to scare the child. "What are you doing?" he asked as he looked around the room.

"Painting," she said, not turning away from her work.

"The walls?"

"Yes," she said, putting down the paint and turning towards the man. "I hate when all things look the same."

Eros nodded as he surveyed her art work. "Why exactly did you draw this?"

She smiled faintly as she gazed at the swirls on her wall. "I remember having walls like this, to represent me name."

"So you remember your name?" Eros asked curiously as he looked at the child standing before him.

"Yes, I had never forgotten it, but I never told anyone what it was."

"Why not?"

"It's something I kept to myself, a piece of me that no one else could take away from me," she said quietly, tracing her fingers over the drying paint, blending the colors there.

"We plan on sending you to school when term starts," Eros informed.

"Why? Don't you want me here?" she asked quietly.

"Yes we want you here, but I think it was best if you were around other people. Maybe you could unlock more of your memories."

"Alright. What name would you give me? I would need a name for school wouldn't I?

"Of course you would. We would be giving you our last name, but what you are to be called is up to you."

"Could I use my name?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, if you're willing to. Would you like to tell me what it is?"

"Zosime Aellai," she said proudly. "That is the name I was given. I was called Zo or for short or just Aellai, I think it sounds prettier."

Eros smiled. "I couldn't have picked a better name for you. Now if you will excuse me, there are some things that I need to take care of."

"Of course," Zosime replied, turning back to her work. "You will call me by my name from now on, won't you?"

"Of course," Eros said as he stepped out of the room. He immediately made his way to his husbands study; there were many things they needed to discuss.

"There you all are!" Hermione said as Fred, George, and Harry made their way towards the small group awaiting them.

"We haven't been gone that long," Fred said easily, ignoring the look that Harry was giving him.

"It's been almost twenty minutes," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Last time I checked you were no mother to any of us," George replied, looking with great satisfaction, at the flustered look on the brunette girls face.

"I thought you would be back sooner than this."

"Whatever," Fred said; giving Hermione a look that clearly said this conversation was finished.

"Harry, where did you all go?" the girl asked, hoping to get some answers from someone.

"Oh don't think that will work," George said. "Just because you didn't get an answer from us doesn't mean that he'll answer you; it really is none of your business."

"The last time I checked, Harry could speak for himself," she said, glaring at the twins and then turning back to Harry giving him a pointed look.

Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder and spotted Tonks. He gave her a pleading sort of look that Hermione missed; hoping to whomever may have been listening that she would help him.

"Harry, could you come here for a moment, there's something I want to talk to you about," Tonks called out, having seen the look she was getting and hearing most, if not all of the conversation that was taking place.

"Sure Tonks, be right there," Harry called back, giving here a grateful look, "sorry Hermione, but we'll have to talk about this later." Harry took off, almost running, towards Tonks.

The twins gave Hermione a triumphant look. "We told you it was none of your business."

Hermione growled in frustration as the twins walked away from her, leaving her alone to deal with her anger, at least until she found someone to take it out on.

Draco was sitting in his room, idly staring at the ceiling. There was only two days left until school started and he had invited a friend over to spend the remainder of break with him; all he had to do now was wait for him to arrive.

"Draco, what are you doing?"

"Attempting to memorize the pattern in my ceiling before Blaise gets here," he muttered, not even looking towards the door.

"What do plan on doing when he does get here?" his mother asked with a small smile on her face.

"Memorize the ceiling pattern in some other room, and then compare notes with him."

"Sounds like you have the rest of your brake pretty booked," Narcissa said, holding in her laughter.

"Yeah, it is gonna be a shame going back to school; we might not finish this project in time."

Narcissa couldn't hold it in anymore; she let a few delicate chuckles as she watched her son. Draco smiled, glad that he could make her laugh, she deserved to be happy.

"What do you really plan on doing with the last two days of your brake?" she asked once she had gotten her laughter under control.

"No idea actually," Draco said, sitting up and looking at his mother. "We were just planning on hanging out and just improvising from there."

"That sounds fun, I suppose. Just so long as the two of you don't destroy the manor," she said, giving him a pointed look.

"I will make no such promises," Draco said, standing up and stretching. He heard the door bell ring, and rushed past his mother, practically flying down the stairs.

Narcissa shook her head, watching her son's childish antics, glad that all of his childhood was not taken away from him; he could at least enjoy being a child sometimes.

Eros didn't even bother knocking as he opened the study door and walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

"It's a wonder how I get any work done with you constantly bothering me," Damainos muttered lowly, hoping that would be enough to get his husband to leave him alone.

"You always manage to get it done somehow so I don't really care," Eros stated sitting on the edge of the desk and destroying any chance of work being done right now.

"What do you want this time?"

"You say that like I'm always in here keeping you from you work."

"You _are_ always in here keeping me from my work," the green-eyed beauty said, pointedly looking at the stack of papers that had yet to be dealt with.

"Don't act like you don't enjoy it," Eros smirked.

"I don't think I'll be enjoying it this time," Damainos said dejectedly, noting his blue-eyed husband was still fully clothed.

"It's about the child."

"What about her?"

"She remembers her name."

"Should we give her a prize or something? Everyone has a name."

"Why do you have to be so difficult about this?" Eros sighed, exasperated, folding his arms across his chest.

"There's no way of knowing completely until she turns sixteen. Just because she has a few memories and some form of resemblance doesn't automatically mean you have to treat her like she's ours. I know you miss our children, but wishful thinking is not going to bring them back."

Eros glared at his husband, although deep down, he knew that he was right. "I just want them back," he said through gritted teeth.

"So do I, but we can't just rush to conclusions because of that, we have to wait until we're absolutely sure before we start putting trust into strangers. That same mistake was made before, and look what happened, there are only three of us left now, not counting children, we can't risk that happening again."

"I know," Eros sighed, "but after the birthday, will you believe it?"

"I will if there's reason to," Damainos said grasping Eros's hand to offer him some kind of comfort, "but I will make no promises until then."

Eros nodded and pondered his thoughts silently for awhile, ignoring his husband for the time being; that didn't last long though.

"Now would you remove yourself from my desk so I can get some work done?" Damainos said, moving to push the blond man away. Eros just laughed and walked to the door, making his exit.

**So yeah, sorry this took so long, but, I got it up eventually!! Reviews would be amazingly awesome, and complaints and deaththreats to update inspire me to write!!! Until next time!!**

**-DHR**


	8. The Beginning of Change

"Is everything alright Tonks?" Harry asked as he peered into the witch's worried face.

"Has anything strange happened to you since we arrived in Diagon Alley?" She asked, surveying her surroundings distrustfully.

"Not really," Harry lied, "why do you ask?"

"Oh it's nothing," Tonks responded dismissively. "I just feel as if something is not right."

Harry gazed at the witch before him as she took in her surroundings once again, searching for something out of place. "Oh ok, I suppose we should meet up with the others and head back to the Burrow then?"

"Yes, yes you're right," she responded, distractedly making her back to Shacklebolt and the others. He hated lying to her, but he could not tell her what he suspected happened without getting himself and the twins in trouble. 'I need to find out what is really going on before I share this information with anyone else,' he decided, following behind Tonks back to the group.

"Harry, could I have a word with you?" Hermione questioned impatiently, not at all happy with how Harry had dismissed her so easily before.

"I'm sure it can wait until we get home," Ron interrupted before harry could say anything. "We're getting ready to leave. Wouldn't you rather talk about this in private anyway?" He turned hopeful eyes towards the bushy haired girl, silently pleading with her to let the matter drop until later when they could talk alone.

"Fine," Hermione sighed angrily. Turning away from Harry, she marched away from the two boys and towards Ginny.

Ron sent Harry an apologetic half-smile, silently apologizing for how pushy Hermione could be. Harry just rolled his eyes and walked towards Shacklebolt and Tonks, thinking of what he was going to tell Hermione when she finally cornered him and forced some information out of him.

* * *

Eros silently watched the young girl as she painted the walls in the room they had given her. She was adding more color to the abstract swirls and shapes she had earlier painted. It was a wonder she had not gotten bored or tired yet; she had been painting for hours.

"What are you thinking about?" Zo questioned as she turned around to see Eros staring at her artwork without seeming to really see it.

"Just thinking," he replied dazedly. "I remember painting something similar years ago…" Realizing what he had said, he sat up quickly and became more alert. He had said too much.

"So you remember to?" the young girl asked quietly, dropping her gaze to hide a sad smile. "I was beginning to wonder if these visions in my head were indeed memories. I was afraid I was beginning to slip into madness."

"Why would you think that?" Eros asked softly, startled by the thoughts the dark haired girl was expressing.

"Because," she said softly, setting down her paint brushes and sitting on the floor gently, pulling her knees to her chest. "How am I supposed to differentiate between what is real and what is made up when no one will help me? I have no one to talk to about my memories; no one who could assure me that these events did happen. I feel so lost…" Staring blankly at the floor, Zo waited for a response.

Eros was speechless. "Why did you not bring this up before?"

"I did not wish to burden you. The both of you have already brought me into your home. You could have turned me away like so many others who would claim to be your daughter. But you let me stay. I had hoped that being here would help me remember more quickly, so I could prove to you who I am. But it does not seem to be working. My memories are not returning much faster than they were before and sometimes they seem so ridiculous that I must question whether they were just figments of my imagination."

"Tell me some things that you have remembered."

Zo thought about this for a moment, "I remember this house," she started slowly, "but I don't remember it being this cold or this lonely. I remember never being alone, even when my parents were not in the room I was never alone. I can't remember why I was never alone, but I just can't shake this feeling that there was always someone else."

Eros pondered this for a moment. 'She remembers a lot more than she thinks she does,' he thought to himself as he stared at the child before him. Her blue eyes were downcast and her black hair fell into her face, almost hiding her sad expression completely.

"Zo…" Eros said softly, but stopped himself before he could say more. He gazed sadly at the girl in front of him, longing to comfort her, but before he could act on these impulses, he swiftly stood up from the armchair. "I'm sure you will feel better once you are in school and around other children," he said briskly as he walked out of the room.

* * *

Harry lay in bed awake that night, thinking about the events that had happened that day. He had avoided talking to Hermione for now. After they all arrived back at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley had insisted that they all triple check their trunks to make sure they had everything they would need for school.

The next day would be the last of the summer holidays. Harry was thankful that there would finally be a distraction for Hermione. She couldn't possibly bother him as much with homework and studying to occupy her time. He hoped that he could make it through the last day at the Burrow without her cornering him and forcing him to talk.

As he stared at the ceiling, listening to Ron's soft snoring, he wondered back to the two men he had met in the shop. They had seemed strangely familiar to him, even though he had only met the shop keeper once and had never met the other man. 'The Vassily's,' Harry thought to himself. He had never heard the name before. 'Why were they so interested in meeting me? And why did they have to meet me in secret, without anyone else knowing?'

Harry had too many questions and no way of getting any answers for the time being. He decided he might as get some rest before it got too late. As he turned on his side to get more comfortable he noticed a faint glowing coming from his bedside table. Putting on his glasses, he reached for the source of the glowing and came into contact with his wand.

As soon as his fingers grasped the wand, a pulse shot from his fingertips through his entire being as the light coming from his wand began to grow. His entire body was aflame with a heat and tingling sensation that were just shy of painful. Harry looked down at his wand and noticed that the light was spreading to his fingers and traveling up his arm. The traveled through his entire body and as quickly as it had started it stopped.

The entire event lasted for less than a minute. Harry gazed apprehensively at his wand, but nothing else happened. He glanced over at Ron to find that his friend had not even stirred during all of this and was still snoring softly in his slumber. Confused, Harry placed his wand back on the bedside table, along with his glasses. He stared at his wand for a few moments, wondering if he had imagined everything that had just happened.

'I have no idea what is going on,' Harry thought to himself as he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

Harry awoke early the next morning, despite not sleeping very long. He glanced over at the other bed and saw that Ron was still asleep. Not surprising him as it was a little before seven in the morning. Harry wished that he could sleep in on the last day of summer like Ron, but he could not seem to make his body go back to sleep. Deciding to walk around the gardens since he couldn't sleep anyway, Harry got out of bed and got dressed.

It was quiet out in the gardens. The grass beneath his feet was still wet as he walked away from the house. He could hear birds chirping happily from their nests as he walked towards the make-shift Quidditch field. "Ginny?" Harry called as he got closer to the field and saw the youngest Weasley sitting in the center.

The red-headed girl looked up when she heard her name and smiled broadly as she realized who had called her. "Oh, good morning, Harry," Ginny replied, standing up quickly. With a slight blush she asked, "What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't sleep," Harry sighed, scratching the back of his head. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm usually out here in the mornings. Didn't you know that?" she asked, shyly hiding behind her hair.

"No I didn't. Would you like to take a walk with me? I planned to have a walk around the gardens until everyone else woke up," Harry offered kindly, not wanting to seem rude for just walking away from the girl.

"Of course! I'd love to!" Ginny responded brightly as she approached Harry so they could walk together.

The next several minutes were spent in companionable silence with occasional small talk. The talking was mostly one-sided as Harry walked along quietly while Ginny tried to spark up a conversation. "Why don't we hang out like this more often, Harry?" Ginny asked, finally finding a topic to pull Harry's attention away from his thoughts and towards her.

"What do you mean? We hang out all of the time?" Harry glanced at the girl walking beside him, confused by her question.

"No, I mean just the two of us?" Ginny stated coyly. "We hardly ever spend any time by ourselves."

"I have lots of friends, Ginny," Harry responded, purposefully missing the meaning behind her words. "There's not enough time to devote to each person individually."

"Oh, I suppose you're right," Ginny sighed, disappointed in Harry's obvious lack of understanding. "Maybe we could start hanging out more? Just the two of us?" she pressed trying hard to keep her expression innocent and clear of wanting.

Noticing the look, Harry mentally shook his head. "Sure, Ginny," he appeased, hopeful that this small acquiescence would stop this line of questioning and the conversation.

Ginny looked happy with herself, having gained a small promise from Harry to spend more time with her. She spent the entirety of the rest of their walk quietly walking beside Harry with a bounce in her step. "I think we should head back to the house, Mum should be up and making breakfast by now." Ginny said happily, glancing at Harry.

"Sure," Harry responded distractedly. He was staring over Ginny's head, off into the distance. He could have sworn he saw someone. As he walked back towards the house with Ginny, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone watching him.

* * *

"But I thought you were betrothed to Pansy Parkinson!" Blaise cried indignantly.

"As did I, but apparently not," Draco said calmly sitting in his room with his best friend. "It wasn't until recently that Mother told me who I was intended for and I still have no idea who she is. Whenever I bring it up, Mother goes strangely silent and finds some reason to leave the room."

"That's odd," Blaise mused, flopping down atop Draco's bed and staring at the ceiling intently. "You would think she would be more forthcoming with information, seeing as how you are to be married in a few years."

"I know! It is so frustrating," Draco sighed angrily as he sprawled himself on his bed beside his friend. "I just wish she would talk to me about it. I've no problem with being in an arranged marriage. I was practically raised with the idea. I just wish she would give me a better idea as to who I am to spend the rest of my life with."

"I feel bad for you, Draco" Blaise stated sadly.

"Why? It's not uncommon for pure bloods to be betrothed."

"Not because of that," Blaise said as he turned away in mock sadness. "I feel sorry for you because you've never seen her. What if you're cursed to spend the rest of your life with an ugly witch?" Blaise could only laugh as Draco launched a pillow directly at his face.

"Only you would think of something so vain. Besides, do you really think that a Malfoy would be forced into a marriage contract with someone ugly? There is a certain standard to uphold you know." Draco responded haughtily, flinging another pillow that connected with Blaise's face once again.

Draco watched un-amused as Blaise calmed his laughter enough to talk. "But seriously Draco, what if she has an awful personality? Or something that is equally unappealing? What if you end up not liking her once you meet her?"

"I don't know," Draco said thoughtfully, thinking over everything Blaise had said. "I don't think there is anything I could do."

"Couldn't your parents get you out of it?"

"No, I don't think they could. This family seemed very certain that they wanted a Malfoy for their daughter. The arranged this marriage contract years ago, before I was even born. I doubt they would let me back out of it now just because I didn't like their daughter."

"I'm sure they could find someone else," Blaise said confidently. "The Malfoy's are not the only ones with pure blood and good family standing."

Draco looked at his friend sadly, wishing he could make him understand why the Malfoy's were chosen for this betrothal in the first place. But he couldn't. Despite their close friendship, he could tell no one of his family's less than perfect lineage. "I suppose they could, but I don't think they would want to after they went through the trouble of creating this contract in the first place."

Draco knew that as far as magic was concerned, his family was indeed pure blooded. There was not a drop of muggle blood in their lineage. There was only one difference between his family and other bloodlines: creature blood.

"Still, I'm sure they could be made to reconsider if their daughter's happiness was at stake."

They lay sprawled on the bed for several minutes staring at the ceiling before Blaise broke the silence. "Draco?"

"Hmm?" Draco hummed lazily.

"Is your ceiling different from the last time I was here?"

Draco only laughed in response to his friend's question.

* * *

She made her way quietly through the halls, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. She had removed her shoes so her footfalls would not be heard echoing through the large empty hallways, choosing to carry them instead. As she reached the door to her room, she turned the doorknob slowly and gently pushed the door in, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Where have you been?" the sudden voice behind her startled her so badly that she dropped her shoes.

"What makes you think I have been anywhere?" She asked, steeling herself and turning around to look into cold green eyes.

"Do you think me a fool child?" Damainos questioned, slightly raising a thin eyebrow.

"No I do not, I apologize," she said not averting her gaze away from the piercing green eyes.

"So I'll ask again: where have you been child?"

"Why won't you call me by my name? Eros calls me by name?" the young girl challenged, anger in her blue eyes.

Damainos narrowed his eyes at the girl before him, the girl that reminded him so much of himself. "And what is it you would like to be called?"

"I would like to be called by my name!" she stated angrily, no longer able to maintain her cool exterior. "My name is Zosime Aellai! Why won't you use my name?"

Damainos was taken aback by her boldness, though he did not show it on his face. He was surprised that she would dare speak to him in such a way. "Eros always describes you as a mild mannered child. You seem to be quite volatile to me."

"I am not volatile," Zo said quietly, anger punctuating her words. "You are the one who is always cold towards me. If you weren't so cold and uncaring I could act the same around you as I do when Eros is around!" she replied loudly before turning around and storming into her room, slamming the door angrily behind her.

Damainos sighed as he stared at the closed door in front of him. He was tempted to knock on the door to try and talk to the child again, but decided against it. 'Eros was always the better communicator,' he thought to himself as he walked away from the door and towards the library.

As he expected, he found his husband there, sitting on a sofa staring into the fire with a forgotten book in his hand. "I was looking for you," Damainos said to attract the blue eyed mans attention.

"No you weren't," Eros stated absently. "You always know how to find me. There was never any need to look for me."

"You're right of course," Damainos replied with a small smile gracing his lips.

"Of course I am. What did you need from me?" he asked curiously, turning his gaze to meet green eyes.

"You must do something with that child," green eyes narrowed at the mention of the young girl staying in their house. "She went out today."

"Is she not allowed to go out?" Eros questioned, raising his eyebrows slightly and setting his book down on a nearby table. "I was not aware that she was being held prisoner here."

"She's not being held prisoner here-"

"Then why is it of importance that she went out?" Eros interrupted, turning fully towards his husband.

"I did not think it was. Until I asked her about it and she immediately became defensive. That is why you must talk to her. If she does not wish us to know of her whereabouts today she must have been doing something she shouldn't have been."

"Have you ever considered that maybe you're too suspicious and untrusting?"

"No," Damainos said. "I only wish to know where she went. She has not left once since she arrived here except for today. I was merely curious. She refuses to talk to me."

"Well come on then," Eros said, standing up and walking towards the door. "We'll go and talk to her about it together."

"Why must I go?" Damainos questioned snidely. "I already tried talking to the child and got no answers. Do you really expect me to try again?"

"Yes I do," Eros responded as he walked away from his husband and out of the library towards Zo's room, knowing that he would follow. "If she does turn out to be our child do you want her to hate you because of how you are currently acting towards her?"

Damainos stopped for a moment and thought about this. He had not considered that the girl would hold onto any of her resentment if it was proven she was their child. "No I do not want that…" he said quietly, following his husband down the hallway.

Eros reached Zosime's and knocked gently on the door. "Come in," was the soft reply to his knocking. He opened the door and walked inside, his husband following him seemingly reluctantly into the room.

"We just wanted to talk to you for a few moments," Eros said calmly, noticing the dark haired girl's apprehension.

"Ok," she replied, sitting up on her bed properly so she could look at both of the men before her. "What is it you wanted to speak about?"

"Where did you go today?" Eros asked. Noticing the defensive look that came over her, Eros continued before she could respond. "We're not angry and we want you to be aware that you are allowed to leave if you wish. We were just curious as to where you went."

"I am sorry for the way I was with you in the hallway earlier," Damainos added. "It is just worrying when you leave without telling one of us. Something could happen to you."

"I'm not sure exactly where I went," Zo said quietly, understanding why they would want to know where she had been. "I just felt this pull earlier this morning. It almost felt like I was being called to someone so I followed the feeling."

"Where did it lead you?" Eros asked. This information caused both him and Damainos to lean forward in interest.

"It led me to a boy…" she stated looking out of the window. "He seemed like he was around my age."

"What did he look like?" Damainos pressed, his curiosity apparent in his voice.

Zo looked over at him for a moment before looking back out the window, staring in the direction that the pull was coming from. "He had black hair and bright green eyes. I wanted to approach him, but he wasn't alone. He was with a young red haired girl…" she answered distractedly.

Damainos and Eros shared a look before they stood up to leave. Zosime did not even notice them leave the room, her focus never wavering from its place on the window.

* * *

**After forgetting about this story for what has literally been years, I have found new interest in writing. My hope is to finish this story and not forget about it again. I highly doubt I have any readers left, but I still plan to finish this story, just so that it can finally be complete.**


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